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COPYRIGHT DEPOSJR 



BIBLE LESSONS ON 
THE CREED 



BY 



CHARLES H. HAYES, B.D. 

PROFESSOR ^F EVIDENCES, GENERAL THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY, NEW YORK 



NEW YORK 

EDWIN S. GORHAM, Publisher 

1906 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

TwoCtDies Received 

JUL ie 1906 

CoAfritht Entry , 
jDLASSdfc,' he. No. 
COPY B. ' 



Copyright, 1906, 
By CHARLES H. HAYES 



% 






TO 

MY FATHER AND MOTHER 

WHO TAUGHT ME, WHEN A CHILD, THE FAITH 
WHICH IS FOR A MAN THE KEY TO ALL TRUTH 
AND THE FOUNDATION OF RIGHT LIVING. 



The acknowledgment of God in Christ 
Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee 
All questions in the earth and out of it, 
And has so far advanced thee to be wise. 
— Browning. 



It is quite certain that what a man's conduct will be 
will depend in the long run on what his real creed is. 

—Gore. 



PREFACE 

To be of any service in teaching children Christian truth 
is so great a privilege that the labor spent upon this little 
book will be amply repaid if it is a help to Sunday-school 
teachers, and so fulfills the purpose for which it was under- 
taken. Friends suggest, however, that it may also be of 
use to some who are interested in studying for their own 
satisfaction the truths summarized in the Creeds. Such 
readers can readily pass over what is said as to ways of 
teaching the several lessons, or adapt it to their study. 
One thing, however, they should observe; since little can 
be learned of revealed truth without thoughtful reflection 
upon the Scriptures themselves, these lessons require to be 
read, as they have been written, with the Bible open. 
Otherwise many allusions to the Bible passages will be 
missed, and the lessons will at times seem to be aimless 
restatements of Scripture; whereas Bible passages have been 
paraphrased only when the slightly different words would 
indicate a more accurate translation, bring in details from 
a parallel passage, explain an obscure word, or emphasize 
a point. Brevity has been sought, moreover, and references 
have been made only to the most necessary passages of 
Scripture. The good old rule that references should be 
looked up becomes, therefore, indispensable. 

In preparing these Lessons for the use of Sunday-schools, 
v 



VI PREFACE 

the following plain principles have been kept in mind. 
Only important subjects can be taken up in our Sunday- 
schools, for the time is short in which to teach the weighty 
matters "that a Christian ought to know and believe to 
his soul's health." The aim in the lesson for each Sunday, 
and in the course for any year, should be simple and single; 
for we must try to leave a definite impression every time we 
teach, and to get to the heart of our subject in the course as a 
whole. The teaching must be based directly on the Bible, 
and draw constantly from its rich stores. And finally, the 
methods of preparation and of work in class must be as 
effective as we can make them. 

That the truths expressed in the Creed are of importance 
for a child to know is hardly open to question. The Creed 
is a summary of the Gospel story, a brief statement of the 
love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. This we propose to 
take as the theme which our course shall endeavor to bring 
home to the children. And as the basis of each lesson we 
propose to take a passage of the Bible, so chosen as to set 
forth in order the great ways in which God has made himself 
known as the God of love. The theme of each lesson is, 
therefore, a certain aspect of the central theme of the 
course, and is, at the same time, definite and complete in 
itself. In the development of each lesson we aim to keep 
close to the revelation recorded in the Bible, and in the 
course as a whole to give prominence, as the Creed does, 
to those great facts in the life of Jesus Christ by which he is 
made manifest and God the Father is fully revealed through 
him. Thus the Bible supplies the sources for all our 
teaching. 



PREFACE vii 

The method of preparation and teaching here proposed is 
described under the heading How to Teach the Creed, and 
worked out in the following pages. How the children are 
expected to prepare the lessons is shown by the Outline for 
Pupils, to which the present Lessons correspond. Whether 
the method is practical and adapted for general use can be 
determined only by a fair trial. It has, at least, been 
planned and developed with the advice and cooperation of 
skilled teachers, and it is now offered to the Church only 
after being tested and improved by seven years' use. The 
Outline was printed in a simpler form in 1898, and helps for 
the teachers were prepared in manuscript. They both 
have been used since that time in St. Mark's Sunday-school, 
Washington. If the method has value, the credit is due to 
the teachers of St. Mark's; for it could have been worked 
out only by their intelligent and faithful cooperation, 
acknowledgment of which is most thankfully made. 

Too great emphasis can hardly be laid on the fact that 
this book is not intended to supply ready-made lessons. It 
aims to give material for the teacher to use, and to present 
it in such a manner that good lessons can readily be pre- 
pared. But it is purposely arranged in such a way that 
the material is not available for teaching in its present form. 
To use it you must make the material your own, think the 
lesson through, and plan how you will teach it in class. 

This, some may think, requires too much of the teacher. 
But surely no one will grudge time and pains, if results 
reward the effort. And it is found in practice that, even 
with the imperfect form of outline and helps hitherto in use, 
teachers succeed with this method, and the pupils' interest is 



viii PREFACE 

far greater than it was when lessons were used requiring 
less thought and care in preparation. The suggestions on 
How to Teach the Creed have been made rather full and 
explicit, and may seem formidable; but they will be found 
upon trial simpler than they appear at first sight. So, too, 
the section on Our Knowledge oj God may be considered 
too theological. But the principles stated, though im- 
portant, are simple, and can be grasped without serious 
difficulty by anyone who will give thought to them. It 
should be remembered also that what is there said is for the 
teachers' study of first principles, and is not at all intended 
to be used in teaching just as it stands. 

These lessons are part of a systematic plan of instruction, 
intended especially for graded Sunday-schools, which is 
described in Bible Lessons on Christian Duty, to be pub- 
lished shortly. According to this plan they are the seventh- 
grade lessons, and are meant for pupils of the correspond- 
ing school grade, the seventh in the Washington public 
schools. The usual age of these pupils is twelve to fourteen. 
The lessons on the Creed are, however, complete in them- 
selves, and can be used independently, and for older pupils. 

In accordance with the custom followed in printing the 
Bible and Prayer Book, capitals are not used for pronouns 
referring to the Deity. And in printing references to verses, 
for example St. John iii. 16 to 22, the last number indicates 
that the passage runs to, and does not include, the corre- 
sponding verse. 

The number of lessons is sufficient for a whole year, if 
introductory and closing lessons, reviews and festivals are 
allowed for. In many schools, however, the regular course 



PREFACE IX 

of instruction does not extend over the whole year. In this 
case lessons 7, 12, 16, 23, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36, 39 and 42, or 
some of them, may each be combined with the lesson 
following; or lessons 7, 14, 16, 17, 21, 27, 28, 29, 36 and 37 
may be omitted. Lesson 44 ought by no means to be 
omitted, nor should the last part of the course, referring to 
God the Holy Ghost, be hastily treated. It is important 
therefore to map out the work of the year early. When 
several classes are studying the subject, it is well to follow 
one plan with them all. 

No one would choose the Creed as the theme for a series 
of lessons, involving considerable labor to prepare, who did 
not really hold the doctrines expressed in it to be true and 
of the utmost practical value. While this is obvious, some 
may suppose that the author accepts the Creed as a mere 
matter of course, without fairly considering critical and 
philosophical difficulties. He asks to be believed when he 
says that he has carefully studied the exegesis of each Bible 
passage used, has reckoned with questions of criticism, and 
has thought out to the best of his ability the philosophical 
implications of his statements, especially of such as are con- 
cerned with the miraculous or supernatural. It would be 
out of place to discuss these matters in a book of this scope; 
but he may be allowed to declare that, although he is cog- 
nizant of the difficulties hindering many from belief, he is 
honestly convinced that the age-old faith of Christ's Church 
is confirmed by searching study of its historical bases, and 
justified by determined efforts to think clearly. 

This little book, and the Outline for Pupils as well, are 
sent forth with the prayer that they may help some students 



X PREFACE 

to know him better, "whom truly to know is everlasting 
life." And may there come to the lives of many children, 
through the teaching of faithful men and women in what- 
ever way, a fuller measure of the love of God the Father, the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the 

Holy Spirit. 

C. H. H. 

General Theological Seminary, 
Ascension-day, 1906. 



CONTENTS 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 

PACE 

Why we Study the Creed i 

Studying the Subject 2 

Studying the Lesson .......... 3 

Planning the Lesson 4 

Making the Outline 7 

Preparing Questions 8 

Work in Class 10 

The Pupils' Preparation 11 

Reviews and Tests 13 

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 

Religious Belief Natural 15 

Faith and Knowledge 16 

Faith Like Our Knowledge of Persons .... 18 

How God has made Himself Known 21 

The Manifestation of God in Jesus Christ . . . 23 

How God is Known as One God in Three Persons . 24 

Confession of Faith in the Triune God . . . . 27 

The Bible and the Creed 29 

Limitations of Our Knowledge of God .... 30 

Faith and Salvation 31 

Creed and Character 31 

xi 



xii CONTENTS 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 

LESSON PACK 

Introductory Lesson 33 

1. Faith. The Meaning of "I Believe in" ... 34 

2. Confessing the Faith 39 

3. The Holy Trinity, Three Persons, One God . . 43 



GOD THE FATHER 



4. Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth 

5. One God 

6. The God of Righteousness .... 

7. The God of Mercy and Loving-kindness . 

8. Our Father; God's Love and Care for Us 

9. The Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ; God is Love 65 
Review 68 



GOD THE SON 

10. The Only-Begotten Son of God 70 

11. Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin 

Mary 73 

12. The Name Jesus 77 

13. The Title Christ 80 

14. The Witness of St. John the Baptist .... 83 

15. The Temptation of Our Saviour 86 

16. Miracles of Christ; His Power over Nature . . 89 

17. Miracles of Christ; His Power of Healing . . 92 

18. Miracles of Christ; Raising the Dead ... 96 

19. Christ the Divine Teacher 99 

20. The Faith of Our Lord's Disciples in Him . . 103 
31. The Transfiguration 106 



CONTENTS xiii 

LESSON PAGE 

22. Our Lord Says that He is the Son of God . .109 
Review 112 

23. Suffered Under Pontius Pilate 113 

24. Was Crucified for Us 116 

25. Dead and Buried; He Descended into Hell . . 120 

26. The Third Day He Rose Again 124 

27. The Evening of the First Easter-day . . .127 

28. Later Appearances of Our Risen Lord . . .131 

29. The Witness of the Apostles to the Resurrection 135 

30. He Ascended into Heaven 137 

31. sltteth on the rlght hand of the father . . 141 

32. He shall come to Judge the Quick and the Dead 144 

33. The Word of God Incarnate 147 

Review . 151 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 

34. The Promise of the Holy Ghost ..... 152 

35. The Coming of the Holy Ghost 156 

36. The Manifestation of the Holy Ghost in the New 

Testament Church 159 

37. The Work of the Holy Ghost in Our Hearts . 162 

38. The Inspiration of the Scriptures . . . .166 

39. The Church; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic . 172 

40. The Communion of Saints 177 

41. The Forgiveness of Sins 182 

42. The Resurrection of the Body 185 

43. The Life Everlasting 189 

Review 191 

44. The Holy Trinity; Three Persons, One God . . 193 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 

Why we Study the Creed.— "This is life eternal, 
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent." So our Lord declares. It 
is therefore the most vitally important of all truth that we 
endeavour to lay hold of when we study the subjects that are 
outlined in the Creed. To know this truth, careful and 
thoughtful study is necessary, but before all else we need 
the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a faithful Christian 
life. Christ has promised the Holy Spirit as the guide into 
all truth for his Church and for the faithful; and he has 
told us that "if any man willeth to do his will, he shall 
know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." The help 
of the Holy Spirit and a will that is set to do God's will 
he gives in answer to earnest and believing prayer. 

Since the truths summarized in the Creed are the greatest 
that can come before our minds, it is natural that we should 
desire to know them, and the study of them should not be 
a task, but a delight. Other studies help us to know about 
the world which God has made, or about the government 
under which we live, and the conditions of life in which we 
now find ourselves; but this helps us to know of God himself, 
of his righteous government of the world, and of eternal life. 
And these truths, although great and wonderful, are not 
remote, abstract speculations, beyond our ability to lay 
hold of, and out of relation to practical life. They are defi- 
nite, capable of being grasped, and of living force, because 
they are about the personal God, who has made himself 



2 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

known as the God of love. Our study of the Creed, to be 
sure, will be a dry and formidable undertaking, if we suppose 
that it consists in trying to understand a series of difficult 
propositions, and in proving them by patching together 
fragments of Scripture. But we really are trying to know 
God himself better, and we learn of him through the har- 
monious story of his merciful dealings with men. And in 
teaching the Creed we are not merely presenting certain 
statements however true; but our aim is to set forth him who 
first loved us, and sent his Son into the world that we might 
have life in him; our purpose is to arouse and strengthen in 
the children's hearts the love that responds to God's love; 
and the outcome in their lives should be truer and more 
willing service. 

Studying the Subject. — In preparing to teach the 
profound truths that are briefly put into words in the 
Creed, the first thing to be aimed at is a clear general view. 
For in order to teach any part of a subject well a right point 
of view for the whole is no less necessary than accuracy in 
details. To study a subject or a course of lessons piecemeal, 
and just keep ahead of the class, must result in feeble 
teaching; the subject will never be rightly understood, nor 
will the plan of the lessons be fairly appreciated. Begin 
your study, then, well in advance of the time when you first 
meet your class, and, if this book is to be used, read it through 
before preparing any lessons in detail. This general prep- 
aration should begin with a careful consideration of the 
principles stated under the heading Our Knowledge of God. 
Then go over the lessons rapidly, surveying the work of 
the entire year. In this reading look up the text and the 
passage of Scripture on which each lesson is based, but 
postpone the consideration of details. 

To depend upon one book is a mistake in any study, and 
the present subject is inexhaustible. You will find it profit- 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 3 

able therefore to read: Gore, The Creed of the Christian; 
Newbolt, The Church Catechism, Part II.; Walpole, Vital 
Religion or the Personal Knowledge oj Christ; or any similar 
book that your rector may advise. So too, when you are 
preparing the several lessons, Macpherson, Lessons on the 
Church Catechism, Part II., and Cawthorn, Lessons on the 
Gospels for Sundays and Holy-days, will be found very useful, 
as also such commentaries as your rector may recommend. 
The more thorough student is advised to read also Sanday, 
Outlines oj the Life of Christ. Acknowledgment is due to 
these authors for many points in the following pages. 

Studying the Lesson. — When a general view of the 
truths that the Creed expresses has been gained, and the 
plan of lessons is understood, the teacher will be ready to 
study each lesson individually. In this the following method 
is recommended. 

First, notice the theme indicated by the title of the lesson, 
and, as it were, set it up in the center of the mental picture 
you are about to compose. Then read the text and the 
Bible lesson carefully, keeping in mind that you wish to 
see clearly their bearing upon the theme. It is desirable, at 
this point, to compare the Revised Version or the Marginal 
Readings Bible with the King James Version, which the 
Prayer Book follows except in the Psalms. Occasionally 
you will find some important difference in reading, and 
even in the many passages where none is found, a different 
turn of the words or a less familiar phrase may give you new 
light on the meaning. You may also find it useful to look 
up the passage in some good commentary. But at least 
let your first step in preparing each lesson be to study the 
text and Bible passage in their relation to the subject of 
the lesson. 

In the second place, go over the questions in the Outline 
for Pupils, and consider what answers should be given. 



4 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Remember that these questions are not intended to bring 
out all the points that are to be taught in class, but only 
such as the children may be expected to draw from the 
Bible passage. They will, however, be of service to you by 
suggesting certain connections between the passage and the 
topic of the lesson. 

Then read what is said in these pages in explanation of 
the lesson, giving careful attention both to its general plan 
and to details, and constantly comparing what is said with 
the Scripture itself. You can gather further material from 
the books suggested above, and illustrations from your gen- 
eral reading and your own experience. Finally, notice that 
near the end of each lesson in this book an outline is given, 
each sentence of which sums up one of the preceding para- 
graphs. Read this outline over and ask yourself whether 
you have a clear idea corresponding to each sentence, and 
can recall the substance of the paragraph that it sum- 
marizes. This will help greatly to fix in the memory what 
has been studied. 

Planning the Lesson. — You have studied what you 
propose to teach, but that is only the first step toward good 
teaching. You have spent time and trouble in gaining 
some knowledge. What do you mean to use it for? Pre- 
sumably you have a more definite purpose in taking a 
Sunday-school class than merely to keep the boys or girls 
fairly quiet, and to fill up a tedious hour. If not, it certainly 
is not worth your while to pretend to teach, and you can 
hardly blame your class if their restlessness shows a proper 
appreciation of their teacher's incompetence. You surely 
have the purpose each Sunday of making those impression- 
able minds see as never before some definite aspect of 
God's love toward them. You have this one opportunity 
to teach this particular thing, and it is soberly true that 
those boys or girls will probably never learn it unless you 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 5 

help them to learn it now. What do you mean to teach 
next Sunday? You must have a perfectly definite object, 
and decide how you will try to gain it, if you are to make 
an effective use of what you know. 

And first you have to fix upon the one point that is to be 
the center of the day's lesson. This is expressed by the 
title of the lesson, and you have considered it already. 
But now try to write down the kernel of your theme in one 
sentence. For the object of every lesson that is well taught 
is single. The first thing for good teaching is to know 
precisely what you wish to teach, and without turning aside 
to work for that. Your subject is the meaning of "I believe 
in " or " sitteth at the right hand of the Father." Well then, 
you propose to teach: I believe in God, because he showed 
his love toward us by sending his Son into the world; or, our 
ascended Lord possesses all power in heaven and earth. 
Until you can state it, you do not sufficiently know your 
object. But when you can put the gist of what you would 
teach into a single sentence, you know precisely upon what 
you mean to fix your pupils' attention. And you can com- 
mand attention, if you yourself are possessed by one idea.* 

You should consider, secondly, how to take hold, how to 
fasten the interest of your class at the start, by making the 
children see that the theme has to do with them. Begin 
with something that they know and appreciate; with a point 
that has interested them in an earlier lesson, an illustration, 
or a principle that they can see has importance for them. 
And be sure that you take hold of the lesson in a decided way, 
not leaving your opening to chance, nor contenting yourself 
with a vague beginning. 

In the third place, plan how you will go on. You wish to 
keep the attention that you have awakened until you have 

* For much of what is said in this section acknowledgment is due 
to How to Write by Prof. Charles S. Baldwin, Ph.D. 



6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

gained your object for the day. To do this you must 
arrange the points that you wish to bring out in an orderly, 
coherent manner, so that one will lead on naturally to 
another. Material is here supplied, arranged, it is hoped, 
in a useful order, but to provide a ready-made lesson that 
could be taught automatically would be worse than useless. 
Care has been taken to put the material in such a form that 
you must y ours el j think out the lesson. Each paragraph, to 
be sure, sets forth one of the points to be taught, and an 
outline is suggested at the end of each lesson, its sentences 
corresponding to these paragraphs. This arrangement will 
help you in making your plan, but it will not provide a 
substitute for your thinking. It is worth while, and deeply 
interesting as well, to study for yourself how to marshal your 
material. The three chief things to be considered, then, in 
planning the lesson are: fixing the point, taking hold, and 
going on until the purpose of the day is fully attained. 

It is also to be borne in mind that every truth brought 
before us in the Creed has a practical bearing on life. 
Applications are suggested below that may usefully be 
made, and you will wish to plan how to draw a moral 
effectively. Be clear in your own mind what application 
you will lead up to, and plan how to present it; but put it 
briefly. Children weary of long moralizings; but they often 
remember a moral lesson that is terse, and more often one 
that they deduce for themselves from a well-taught lesson. 

Planning the lesson is much easier if you put your ideas 
down on paper than if you try to carry everything in your 
mind. You will be well repaid for your trouble if you make 
notes while studying the lesson of each important point just 
when you get hold of it. And in planning the lesson it is 
well worth while to write a sentence expressing each topic 
when it takes shape in your mind, just as you wrote at the 
start a sentence expressing the central theme. To be sure 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 



7 



the suggested outline gives you such sentences, but do not 
be satisfied with that. Frame for yourself such statements 
as will best convey what you find in these Lessons to the 
particular children whom you teach. If you can thus state 
your points clearly and briefly, you will be ready to arrange 
them in an effective order for teaching. 

Making the Outline. — An outline that will insure 
clearness of arrangement and be a guide in class is essential. 
Even if you do not care to write down notes of your studies, 
and sentences expressing the topics of the lesson, at least 
make an outline to use in teaching. Write down, therefore, 
the title of the lesson, and under it the sentence in which 
you have stated for yourself the central theme. Then put 
down titles for the topics into which you divide the lesson, 
and arrange them in the order that you will use when you 
develop the lesson in class. Use a page of convenient size 
to keep before you while teaching, and put down the topics 
in such a way that they readily catch the eye, and your plan 
as a whole is represented graphically. To take lesson i 
as an example, you would make some such outline as 
follows, except that you would leave space under each topic 
to indicate how it is to be developed. 

Faith. The Meaning of "I believe in." 

I believe in God, because he showed his love toward us by 
sending his Son into the world. 

What Christ's coming into the world has shown. 

The purpose of Christ's coming. 

Our response to God's love. 

Faith necessary to salvation. 

Faith dependent on willingness to obey God. 

Faith like trust in persons. 

Faith and life. 



8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

The topics are like guide-posts pointing the way to the 
one great theme summarized in the leading sentence, and 
each should suggest at a glance the development necessary 
to attain that end. Their arrangement should be such 
that the lesson will go on from point to point without letting 
the interest of the class flag. And, as the time for the 
day's work is limited, the outline should be so planned that 
the lesson will not stop short before the objective point for 
the day has been reached. 

When you have thus made the framework for your lesson, 
consider how you will take hold of and develop each part. 
As you have thought out the lesson as a whole, so you 
should think out each topic. The manner of development 
must vary according to the subject and the class; but you 
will not go far wrong if you fix upon some good illustration 
to introduce each point, and plan to lead on from it by 
questions until you get from the children a statement that 
fairly sums up the topic. The illustrations and lines of 
development that you plan to use may be indicated in your 
outline as subtopics by a word or two for each. Having 
made the outline, the wise teacher will go over it again and 
again in order to come before the class with a message 
ready to deliver. A message that costs time and thought 
will secure attention, and truth that has been made the 
teacher's own will be taught with authority. 

Preparing Questions. — You now have a plan for the 
structure to be built in class, and the material is ready in 
your mind for use. In just what way will you lay stone 
upon stone? How is the class to be questioned? Printed 
questions and answers have been purposely avoided in these 
lessons, because they lead so easily to mechanical recitations. 
If the children are to see what you try to teach, and are to 
express it for themselves, the questioning must draw out 
their thoughts, must start with what they know already, 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED g 

and lead them on to what you wish them to know. You 
cannot, then, precisely formulate the questions in advance, 
and must leave yourself free to be guided by the way the 
subject develops in class. But if you know what you mean 
to teach, and try to put yourself in touch with the children, 
you may trust yourself to use a free and natural method of 
questioning. 

To prepare for this, take your outline and consider what 
question you will begin to ask on each topic, what answers 
the class is likely to give, and how you will go on according 
as you find this opening or that. Plan to proceed rapidly 
and to take advantage of what the children know, if they 
show that they understand; or to repeat a point and bring it 
out more fully, if they do not understand it at first. Use 
your imagination and your knowledge of the individual 
children to foresee in what directions their thought may 
move; and plan how you will keep them in the path you 
mean to take, or bring them back when they wander off. 
Go over thus in your mind a variety of questions on each 
point; and prepare lines of questioning that will guide you, 
and yet not hinder a free, spontaneous development of the 
lesson. Then you will find, when you come to class, that 
questioning is not a dull routine, but is interesting both to 
you and the children. 

The pupils* written answers should be made use of in 
class at the stages of the lesson where they will come in to 
the best advantage, and you should decide beforehand just 
when and how you will bring them in. Each question in 
the Outline for Pupils is closely related to some topic of the 
lesson given in these pages. Thus in lesson i the first four 
questions have to do with the first four paragraphs of that 
lesson in this book, and the fifth question, with the last 
paragraph but one. Naturally the answers to each ques- 
tion should be read when the topic to which they relate is 



IO BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

taught. And they will generally come in better after the 
oral questioning on the topic rather than before. For then, 
if the written answer is right, it fixes the thought in the child's 
mind; if it is wrong, the mistake will be evident, and can 
easily be corrected. 

You will also wish to decide in advance when the children 
would best recite the text that they have to learn. This 
should usually come at the end of the lesson, and along with 
it they should recite the article of the Creed upon which the 
lesson bears. This will give opportunity for summing up 
the lesson, and for leaving in the children's minds a clear 
statement of the central theme which you have written 
down at the beginning of your outline. 

Work in Class. — At each session there should be a 
brief review of previous work, then the lesson of the day, 
to which most of the hour should be given, and thirdly an 
explanation of what is to be done the following week. None 
of these three parts of the work in class should ever be neg- 
lected. 

The review ought always to be carefully planned in ad- 
vance, and should have the object both of fixing what has 
been learned before and of leading up to the subject of the 
day. Sometimes it is best to take up the salient points of 
the last lesson, as in lessons 2, 5, 17, or 31; sometimes, the 
main themes of several previous lessons in their bearing 
on that of the day, as in 7, 8, 25 or 29. It is well to make 
a brief but careful note in your outline of the points to be 
reviewed. 

In teaching the lesson do not lecture to the children; 
bring out the points that you wish to make by means of 
questions. If you have a story to tell by way of illustration, 
tell it. But most things that you tell children go in one ear 
and out of the other. Only what you can get them to say 
for themselves are they at all likely to grasp; and even when 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED n 

they say a thing, you must try to make sure that they grasp 
the idea, and are not merely repeating or imitating a phrase. 
Aim, therefore, to follow up the line of questions that you 
have prepared, and to get the children to tell you what you 
desire them to know. 

The Bible passage ought not, as a rule, to be read over in 
class. It should be assumed that each child has done at 
least so much at home. If he has not, the advantage of 
doing it will be so evident that he will be inclined to prepare 
the next lesson better. The wise teacher will expend more 
energy in arousing a desire to do well next time than in 
scolding for past carelessness. 

The class must be kept alive and interested. No effort 
in preparing or teaching the lesson is too great that will 
bring about this result. And to attain it, individuals must 
be reached. Should John's or Mary's attention wander, it 
must be arrested by a skillful question, an illustration, a 
well-told story, a picture, or any legitimate means that will 
not interrupt the development of the lesson. 

For explaining the next week's lesson you should be sure to 
reserve some minutes before the session closes. Point out 
the theme of the next lesson and its connection with that of 
the day. Sketch very briefly the topics that will be taken up. 
Show what preparation the children are to make at home; 
and, if you foresee that any question of the Outline will be 
hard to answer, suggest how it is to be looked up or thought 
out. These matters deserve some previous thought, and it is 
worth while to add a memorandum of them to your outline. 

The Pupil's Preparation.— Each pupil should have a 
Bible or a Prayer Book, an Outline for Pupils and a note- 
book. In preparing his lesson at home he should first 
notice carefully the title of the lesson, and read the text and 
the passage of Scripture, trying to see clearly their con- 
nection with the subject of the lesson. Then he should 



12 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

write in his note-book answers to the questions of the 
Outline. And finally he should learn the text by heart. 
The questions are so chosen, as a rule, that the answer can 
be seen in the Bible passage itself, but some require a con- 
clusion to be drawn from what has gone before. Each 
answer should be a complete sentence, not a mere phrase, 
which cannot be understood apart from the question. Most 
of the passages referred to may be found in the Prayer 
Book, and therefore either the Bible or the Prayer Book 
may be used in home preparation and in class. This is 
often a great convenience. Passages not found in the 
Prayer Book are used only in lessons, such as 18, for which 
several references are given, and may readily be assigned 
to pupils who have Bibles of their own. Where several 
references are given, lettered a, b, and so on, each pupil may 
be assigned one passage for home study. In this way the 
work will be lightened, and each group of pupils who have 
looked up a certain passage will have something of their 
own to contribute in class. 

It may be thought that too much is expected of the 
children, and that it will be impossible to get them to do 
written work. But certainly an hour or two a week is a 
very modest requirement for religious studies, and that will 
suffice for what is here proposed. On the other hand, there 
is plenty to do for those who wish to be thorough and to 
work up their note-books more completely. You may 
fairly insist that every child who wishes to keep up with the 
class shall at least read the text and Bible passage, and 
write something in his note-book. Even though he writes 
only a line or two on the subject, there is this much gained, 
that he has read a portion of the Bible with the idea that it 
has some definite meaning for him. But a good proportion 
of pupils, it is found, will do much better; many will bring 
in creditable answers, and some will prepare really ad- 



HOW TO TEACH THE CREED 



13 



mirable and complete note-books. Do not be discouraged, 
if your pupils at first do only a little written work, but aim 
to make it soon a prominent feature. Take pains to look 
over the note-books and to encourage the children to do their 
written work well, for this will give evidence that some 
studying has been done at home. The superintendent and 
the rector can do much to increase the children's interest, 
too, by inspecting the note-books from time to time and by 
examining them at the end of the year. 

Reviews and Tests. — An hour should be given up to 
a review at least four times in the year, after lessons 9, 22, 
33 and 43. There should also be a general review at the 
very end, unless it is the custom of the school to have an 
examination which the children must pass before going on to 
another grade or subject. These reviews may be oral, and 
then the teacher ought to prepare a careful outline, and 
think out the lines of questioning to be taken up; but it is 
better in most cases to have written tests. The aim should 
be not only to fasten in the memory what has been learned, 
but also to give the class a more connected idea of the 
whole subject. The teacher should therefore pick out the 
salient features of the lessons reviewed, and aim to make 
the class see them as a coherent whole. 

Whether the review is oral or written it is a good plan to 
have each child, besides going over the work to be reviewed, 
bring in a paper on some one of the themes taught. All 
may write on one subject, or better, a theme may be assigned 
to each. It is found that the children often do really good 
work of this kind, and that it increases their interest. These 
papers should be copied into the note-books, and be specially 
examined both by the teacher and by the superintendent or 
rector. 

Experience shows that children will be interested and 
will study, if they see they are learning something definite 



14 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

each day, and feel there is a purpose in the course. And 
it is found that time and pains spent in preparing lessons 
on religious truth are not wasted, if a simple and natural 
method of teaching is followed. Method, however, is only 
a way of imparting what the teacher himself knows and 
feels. He must study his subject, and to that study we now 
turn. 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 

Religious Belief Natural. — There is in every normal 
person a capacity for religion, and all races of men have 
some belief in gods or in God. The tendency to be religious 
is as natural to man as are his tendencies toward acquiring 
knowledge, or toward art and music, or toward family and 
social life. Religion may take on low and degraded forms, 
and may then lead to immoral conduct, and find expression 
in superstition and impure worship. In this it resembles 
the efforts of savages toward a knowledge of nature, their 
use of magic instead of science, their rude attempts at art 
and music, and their imperfect forms of government. But 
religion, even in its feeblest and its most corrupt forms, bears 
witness to our capacity and instinctive tendency to feel 
after God. And in its true form, leading to the highest 
morality, and finding expression in the noblest worship, 
religion shows man at his best. The person who cares for 
the truth and loves the right craves after God even more 
insistently than the ignorant and dull. Man's most natural 
and most worthy longing is expressed when the Psalmist says : 
"Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my 
soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea 
even for the living God." — Ps. 42: 1, 2. And when the 
true knowledge of God is put before man, he responds with 
a pure and living faith. We ought in our teaching to count 
on this natural tendency of all to be religious, and appeal to 
it with confidence. Even though we meet with indifference, 
we may encourage ourselves by remembering that children 

15 



16 bible lessons on the creed 

have the natural longing to know God even more strongly, 
perhaps, than their elders, and are capable of a pure and 
beautiful reverence when God is rightly made known to 
them. 

Faith and Knowledge. — It is often said that faith or 
belief should be contrasted with knowledge. It is said that 
we know certain things to be true which we have heard and 
seen; and we believe certain things to be true about which 
we have been told on reliable authority, for example, that 
the Nile flows through Egypt, or that Washington was our 
first President. It is true enough that there is a contrast 
between what we believe as a matter of religious faith and 
what we perceive by the senses. And we do believe many 
things that we learn from others and cannot fully test for 
ourselves. None of us, probably, would have faith in God 
through Christ, if we had not been informed by other 
persons, whose knowledge is greater than ours, of the wonder- 
ful and beautiful things in nature through which the "eternal 
power and godhead" of our heavenly Father "are clearly 
seen"; and if we had not learned from the records of the 
Bible how God has made himself known in the history of 
the chosen people, in the Incarnation of our Lord, and in the 
founding of his Church. The great facts through which 
God is known we cannot observe, each one for himself; 
they are told us by competent observers or given by reliable 
history, especially by the Gospels. Very few of us would 
know of God and of the ways in which he has made himself 
known, if we had not been brought up in a Christian com- 
munity and been instructed by the appointed teachers of 
the Church. So, too, we cannot observe by the senses, or 
accurately test, the manifestations of God's love and power 
in our own lives and the lives of our neighbors; we cannot 
see or hear or touch, neither can we measure, the power of 
the Holy Spirit in our hearts, or the help that comes in the 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 17 

Holy Communion; we cannot tell just what effect our 
prayers have; and we cannot say that the good we see in 
others has arisen in just such and such a way from Christian 
faith. Accordingly, it is true enough that we do not know 
religious truth in the same way that we know what we see 
and hear, and true enough that in certain important respects 
we are dependent upon authority for what we believe. 

But to contrast faith and knowledge in this way is super- 
ficial, and does not really help us to understand what faith 
is. For religious belief is not the only sphere in which 
authority has a place. We have reliable scientific or 
historical knowledge of many matters that we have never 
tested for ourselves. For example, we may know of what 
elements water is composed, although we have not ourselves 
performed the appropriate chemical experiments; and we 
may know when America was discovered, although we did 
not sail with Columbus, and, indeed, may never have even 
looked up the evidence. We accept such facts on the 
authority of scientists and historians. Their statements can 
be proved, we are aware, by experiments in the one case, 
and by evidence in the other; but we cannot possibly make 
investigations in all the knowledge that we accept and use. 
We shall do well, therefore, not to take as the distinctive 
characteristic of faith the fact that we have to depend on 
authority for many truths that we cannot know at first hand. 
For, although authority has its important place in matters 
of religious belief, our knowledge of God is not thereby 
made less certain than it otherwise would be, or in the least 
inferior to what we know of nature and of history. The 
Church, no less than the scientific world, teaches what she 
does because it is true and can be verified. The great facts 
upon which our redemption depends rest upon the most 
solidly reliable evidence, namely, that which is given by the 
Gospel history. 



1 8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Again, to contrast what we know by faith and what we 
perceive by the senses, as though our sense knowledge were 
the more certain, is profoundly untrue. Faith is not less, 
but more, reliable than our knowledge of things and events. 
The Christian believer is, if possible, more sure of God's 
love than of what his eyes and ears tell him; and in all his 
experience of life he endures and acts "as seeing him who 
is invisible." See also John xx. 29. Material things, which 
we perceive by the senses, are not more truly known than are 
our fellow-men, or right and wrong, or God. And the 
experience that the Christian has of God's providential care 
for him, of prayer answered, of moral and spiritual help in 
his life, and of the effects upon the characters of others that 
come from faith and the grace of God, is as certain and 
trustworthy an experience as that which can be more ac- 
curately tested and measured. And so we shall not arrive 
at an understanding of what faith is by pointing out these 
contrasts between faith and knowledge. We must seek the 
proper meaning of faith in another direction. 

Faith like our Knowledge of Persons. — Faith implies 
a relation between persons; we cannot properly speak of 
faith in things. We may believe in, have faith in, various 
business men as honest and judicious, or in a physician as 
skillful and honorable. It is inappropriate to say that we 
believe in, have faith in, a clock's accuracy or the stability 
of a bridge. The meaning, therefore, of religious faith, by 
which the believer is saved, may be most truly as well as 
most readily explained, if we compare the relation in which 
we stand to God by faith with the relation in which we stand 
to human persons, whom we love, trust and obey. Faith 
means the use of our capacity for knowing God. The way 
in which we know him is most nearly comparable with the 
way in which we know our fellow-men. 

To believe in, as we use the expression in the Creed, or to 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD i Q 

have Christian faith, means to put our trust and confidence 
in a Person. To say "I believe in God" involves far more 
than merely to give assent to a proposition and accept it as 
true; it is to express our sense of relationship to our heavenly 
Father and our love for and trust in him. Faith is more 
than the use of our intellect, and implies that our feeling 
and especially our will are actively employed; it is the 
reaching out toward God of our whole nature, mind, heart 
and will all included; it means the activity of our whole 
personality in knowing God as our personal God. Con- 
sequently, if we would understand it, we shall do well to 
compare it with our knowledge of persons. 

Our knowledge of other persons cannot be tested by 
exact experiments, or even by accurate observation extending 
to every part of their lives and every feature of their char- 
acters. In our practical life we have to act every day on 
faith in the uprightness and good-will toward us of friends 
and relatives; and the man who is suspicious and distrustful 
of those whom he ought to love and trust brings disaster 
upon himself. Many of the tragedies of everyday life turn 
upon such unwarranted distrust; and the great dramatists, 
the interpreters of human nature and its motives, have 
often represented its disastrous results, as in the case of 
Othello, allowing himself to become suspicious of Desdemona, 
or of Elsa, tempted to question Lohengrin as to his name 
and home. This last is in substance one of the oldest of 
human stories, and one of its forms is the Greek tale of 
Cupid and Psyche. Yes, we must trust our fellow-men. 
Indeed we often have to trust them in matters affecting our 
welfare and even our lives, when our direct knowledge of 
them is slight. This is the case, for example, when we 
send a letter by mail, or go on a railroad or steamboat 
journey. So it is in regard to the vastly more important 
matters that depend upon our faith in God. We have not 



20 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

complete and proved knowledge concerning him, such that 
everything is as plain as that two and two make four. 
"We walk by faith, not by sight." — 2 Cor. v. 7. And 
"now we know in part." — 1 Cor. xiii. 12. But we have to 
act, we have to follow a plan of life that decides our character 
and destiny one way or the other. Just as the man is a 
fool and a failure who will do nothing for fear he cannot 
trust and depend upon other men, so the man who will not 
trust God loses his opportunity of spiritual life and well- 
being. 

Our knowledge of persons, again, is gradually gained, 
and comes in a variety of ways; yet the final result may be 
such certain and reliable knowledge of a person's character, 
and such perfect trust in him and in his disposition toward 
us, that we will stake everything upon it, fortune, honor, 
life. We observe a person's manner and expression of face, 
his conversation, and his way of acting in little things, 
noticing whether or not he is intelligent, fair-minded, gen- 
erous. So we get, perhaps unconsciously, an impression 
as to his capacity and character. Then we may have an 
opportunity to see how he acts in some crisis, how he faces 
danger, how he stands temptation, and whether or not he 
lives up to the highest requirements of friendship. The 
manifestation of his character in a thousand ways, some 
great, but most of them small in themselves, may in time 
give us entire confidence in him and establish intimate 
friendship. So our knowledge of God is given in many 
ways, most of them not absolutely conclusive in their 
manifestation of him; yet all lead us gradually to complete 
trust and faith. 

Again, we can understand another person only when we 
are in sympathy with him and have a right will toward him. 
If we hate or dislike him, or if we act unfairly or unkindly 
toward him, we cannot get in touch with him. So faith 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 2 i 

can arise only if the heart is right and the will devoted to 
God's service. We shall know of the truth concerning God 
only if we strive to do his will, and doing his will results in 
fuller knowledge of the truth. When we act upon so much 
of Christian truth as we know, we are in the way of learning 
that truth in full. 

How God has Made Himself Known. — If faith may 
be likened to the knowledge that we have of persons, revela- 
tion, the process by which God has made himself known 
to us, may be likened in a measure to the wa^ in which one 
human person makes himself known to his fellows. 

A person is known to others by what he accomplishes. 
When we see a man's work, we can tell what kind of a man 
he is. A building, a book, a regiment implies a builder, an 
author, a commander; and each gives some indications re- 
garding the person who made or molded it. So the world, 
beautiful, ordered according to exact laws of nature, develop- 
ing from stage to stage until man with his mind and con- 
science appears and finds himself at home in it, implies a 
maker. "The living God, who made the heaven and the 
earth and the sea, and all that in them is, . . . left not 
himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave you 
from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts 
with food and gladness." — Acts xiv. 15, 17. So St. Paul 
reasoned when he tried to persuade the people of Lystra to 
worship the one God only. And to the Athenians he spoke 
with the same purpose of " the God that made the world and 
all things therein," who "giveth to all life and breath and 
all things," as having made all men everywhere, "that they 
should seek after God, if haply they might feel after him 
and find him, though he is not far from each one of us; for 
in him we live and move and have our being." — Acts xvii. 
24 to 29. See also Rom. i. 20. We may thus know of 
God from his world, and from the way in which it is suited 



22 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

to our needs and supports our life. And so "by faith we 
understand that the worlds have been framed by the word 
of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things 
that appear." — Heb. xi. 3. 

In the second place, a person may be made known by his 
dealings with us in the affairs of life. And, so far as we can 
compare divine things with human, we may liken to this 
the revelation that God has made of himself through history. 
All history we ought to think of as under his guidance, and 
as giving us, therefore, some glimpses of him. But he is 
to be seen with special clearness in the history of his chosen 
people as recorded in the Old Testament. They were de- 
livered from slavery in Egypt, and brought to the promised 
land through dangers that it seemed impossible to escape. 
They drove out stronger peoples, and in time they became 
a nation with a firm government and the most just of laws. 
The worship of Jehovah set forth his glory and righteousness, 
and the sacrifices taught the people the sinfulness of de- 
parting from his laws. From time to time the prophets 
arose to preach the will of God, to warn men that misery 
must result from wickedness and idolatry, or to foretell the 
splendor and happiness of a kingdom founded upon right- 
eousness. More than this, the people of Israel experienced 
in their history the most striking proofs that their prosperity 
or misery depended upon their faithfulness to the one God 
and his law of righteousness. The Old Testament story 
turns again and again upon this, until finally the captivity 
almost destroyed the sinful and idolatrous nation, and a 
remnant were allowed to return to their land only when 
they repented and sought after God. Thus through the 
law, the sacrificial worship, the preaching of the prophets 
and the lessons of history, the people of Israel learned that 
there is one God, and that he is a God of righteousness. 
And so his dealings with them made him known to them, 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 



n 



as a man's nature and moral character are made known 
from his behaviour toward other men. 

The Manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. — We know 
something of a person from his work and from his dealings 
with others; but we come to a true and full knowledge of 
him only when we can observe him personally face to face. 
In like manner we have in our Lord the complete revelation 
of the divine character and nature, for which all that went 
before prepared men. As we can understand who and what 
a person is when we see him before us, hear what he says 
and see what he does, so we can learn from the Gospel 
story who Jesus Christ is. He showed himself to his dis- 
ciples and the apostles, whom he chose to be witnesses of 
him, face to face, as a man shows himself to his friends. 
They saw that he was sinless, that he was wise beyond any- 
one they had ever seen or heard of, that he had powers 
such as no mere man has ever possessed, and that he used 
these powers only for the wisest purposes of healing and help. 
As they accompanied him day after day in close companion- 
ship, and saw his character and powers put to the test by 
all the difficulties of his great mission, they could not think 
that he was merely a man. They came to see that he was 
divine. And when they confessed their faith in him as the 
Son of God, he did not rebuke them, as any good man would 
have done who was only a man. He accepted their confes- 
sion of faith, and showed them that he had come into the 
world in order that men might believe on him. When the 
end of his earthly life drew near, they saw him go forward 
with heroic courage, although he knew that the Cross was 
before him. They witnessed his sacrifice with its infinite 
forgiveness and love. Finally they were "witnesses of his 
resurrection." — Acts i. 8, 21, 22; ii. 32, etc. And they 
perceived that he was " declared to be the Son of God with 
power by the resurrection from the dead." — Rom. i. 4. 



24 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

There is no truth so profound as that which he came to 
reveal; he showed himself to men, in order that by seeing 
him we might "see the Father," and know that God is love. 
These truths seem plain to us only because we are familiar 
with the Gospel story; apart from that revelation we should 
still be feeling after him whom man cannot even by search- 
ing find out. "No man hath ever yet seen God; the only 
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
declared him." — John i. 18. "No man knoweth the Son 
but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save 
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." — 
Matt. xi. 27. And the love of God would be too glorious 
for our belief, if it were not made known in Christ. But 
because he appeared as man, his disciples could declare to 
all men concerning the Word of life " that which they saw 
with their eyes and their hands handled." "The life was 
manifested," St. John says accordingly, "and we have seen, 
and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eter- 
nal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested 
unto us." — 1 John i. 2. See also Acts iv. 20. 

How God is Known as One God in Three Persons. — 
To many people the Creed appears to be a set of doctrines 
that cannot be understood and are of no practical value. 
And the concise statement accepted and taught by the whole 
Church, that the one God is in three Persons, seems to them 
not only unintelligible and useless, but self-contradictory 
and therefore untrue. They imagine that the creeds were 
framed because some persons, doubtless well-meaning, had 
a desire to think out hard doctrines and make everybody 
else believe them. The mistake here arises from failing 
to notice that the doctrine of the Trinity is a necessary 
conclusion from observed facts. For consider how God 
made himself known as existing in three Persons although 
he is one God. He did not utter a voice from heaven to 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 2 $ 

tell us that this is true, nor did he send down a writing from 
heaven in which we might read that it is true; but each of 
the Persons of the Godhead was manifested through what 
he does for men. They are known, therefore, as having 
certain relations toward men, and as standing in the eternal 
relation of love to one another. 

We saw that God the Father is made known through 
creation, in history and in the Old Testament revelation, 
just as truly as any human person can be known through 
his work and his dealings with us. Our Lord's disciples, 
accordingly, and all the Jews, held the belief in one God 
as the foundation principle of their religion. This their 
forefathers too had held for many generations so firmly 
that they had been willing to suffer all things for their belief 
in the one true God. Our Lord enforced this belief, and 
based all his teaching upon it. He spoke continually of the 
Father in heaven. He told his disciples that he had come 
forth from God, and was upon earth to do the Father's 
will. The effect of his life and teaching was to make the 
one God better known, so that men might believe in him 
not only as righteous and just, punishing those who do 
wrong, but also as the God of love, the Father who cares for 
every one of his children. Our Lord, therefore, made 
men understand more clearly than ever that God is One. 

But those who knew our Lord saw from his perfect moral 
character, his wonderful teaching, his mighty works of love, 
and his rising from the dead, that he was truly God. And 
they saw that he was one Person, and the Father who had 
sent him, concerning whom he taught them, and to whom 
he prayed, was another Person. 

Furthermore our Lord promised his disciples that, as 
he must soon leave the world and go to the Father, he would 
send the Comforter to take his place. And after our Lord's 
ascension the Holy Spirit, coming down upon the apostles, 



26 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

showed his presence by the tongues of fire and the rushing 
mighty wind. When he had once come they knew that he 
was present among them, although he could not be seen, 
by the powers that he gave them. He manifested himself 
by enabling the apostles to heal the sick and raise the dead; 
and they knew themselves to be under his guidance in their 
missionary work, or in organizing the Church and managing 
its affairs. See Acts iv. 31, v. 1 to 17, viii. 29, x. 19, xi. 28, 
xiii. 2, xv. 28. And again the apostles and evangelists 
knew that the Holy Spirit was helping them to remember 
and to understand all that Christ had taught them. Thus 
they saw that the Holy Spirit is a real Person, and they knew 
what sort of a Person he was from what he did for them. 
Plainly, too, he was not the same Person as the Father, nor 
was he the same Person as their Lord Jesus Christ, with 
whom they had gone about while he was in the world. 
Thus they came to know that there is a third divine Person, 
and to have a definite belief concerning him. 

But still they knew that there is but one God; and they 
could remember that our Lord had said, "I and the Father 
are one." — John x. 30. And they remembered that he had 
told them the Holy Spirit should not speak of himself; "he 
shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." — John xvi. 
13 to 16. And so out of the revelation of God in the Old 
Testament, of Christ in his life upon earth, and of the Holy 
Spirit in his wonderful workings, God made known to men 
that he is one God, but exists in three Persons. Thus we 
confess our faith in the Triune God not as a matter of strange 
and mysterious doctrine, but because we know from facts ex- 
perienced by men that there are these three Persons and that 
each of them does something for us. The Father has created 
us, and he now preserves us. Our Lord by his death and 
resurrection redeemed us from sin, and now lives in heaven 
to plead for us. The Holy Spirit works to make all the 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 27 

people of God holy. God therefore revealed himself in 
such a way that we can know and serve him. We speak of 
him in the Creed in such a way that what we say is under- 
standable and practical. We state what God has done for 
men in times past, what he does for us now, what we and all 
persons can always depend upon him to do forever. Thus 
the dogmas of the Creed are not abstract definitions, but 
statements which have to do with God's actual relations to 
us, and with the eternal realities of the divine existence, which 
we know, in part at least, through the manifestation to men 
of each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. 

Confession of Faith in the Triune God. — Our Lord 
commanded his apostles to "make disciples of all the nations, 
baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." — Matt, xxviii. 19. It was their 
duty, for one thing, to make known to all men the knowledge 
of God that had been given to them. This knowledge was 
of God the Father, in whom they had always believed, and 
whom their Master had fully revealed to them; of God the 
Son, with whom they had companied during his life on earth, 
and whose appointed witnesses and ambassadors they were; 
and of the Holy Spirit, whose work among them they con- 
stantly experienced. In a wonderfully simple and effective 
way our Lord's command as to Baptism in the threefold 
Name kept before his Church the fundamental truths of the 
Fatherhood of God, the redemptive work of the Son of God 
and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. These first 
things necessarily have the foremost place so long as member- 
ship in Christ's Church is given through Baptism. For 
all who are baptized must naturally be taught to confess 
their faith in the three Persons in whose name they are 
baptized, and so must be taught who these three Persons 
are, and what divine work each performs as Creator, Re- 
deemer and Sanctifier. This leads us back continually to 



2 & BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

the revelation of God recorded in the Bible, and also keeps 
the truth before us that our religion is essentially a personal 
relation to our personal God. 

Now the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds are historically 
a growth from the words used in Baptism, as is seen from 
a comparative study of the early forms of the Apostles' 
Creed and of the creeds used in early times in the Eastern 
Church. In different times and in different parts of the 
Church the Creed has varied in details, but all its forms 
have the threefold structure that we notice in it now; it has 
always been a confession of faith in the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit; or, as Dr. Sanday says, "the Creed is 
essentially trinitarian." The Nicene Creed is only a fuller, 
more explicit statement of what is found in the simpler forms; 
and it was framed, not from any desire for elaborate state- 
ments of doctrine, but from the need that arose to preserve 
the original faith of Christians when various heresies threat- 
ened its corruption. 

That the Creed grew naturally out of the words used from 
the first in Baptism is evident if we consider the purpose that 
it served from early times. This was twofold; it supplied a 
brief outline for the instruction of those who were to be 
baptized, and a form for their confession of faith at the 
time of their Baptism; by means of it they could know what 
they accepted in becoming Christians, and could confess 
what they believed. This suggests, it may be remarked in 
passing, that the Creed is suited to-day as well as in early 
times to be used as an outline for instruction. But it is espe- 
cially to be noticed that the purpose and use of the Creed, its 
connection with the words of Baptism, and its emphasis upon 
belief in the three Persons of the Trinity as summing up the 
revelation of God to men, all indicate that it is, rightly under- 
stood, not a dry formula but the earnest confession of living 
faith in a personal God. 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 



29 



The Bible and the Creed.— Both the Bible and the 
Creed set forth the same truths concerning the Triune God 
and our dependence upon him; both were gradually formed 
by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and 
both were intended to meet the needs of believers. In what 
relation to each other do they stand? The Creed, we have 
seen, served as an outline of instruction and a brief confession 
of faith. The Gospels, to take them as the most important 
instance, gave to believers, who had already been taught the 
first principles of Christianity, a fuller knowledge concerning 
the life and teachings of the Master. And so it must always 
be. Without the Creed, a student of the Bible may lose 
his way in the multitude of details, and miss the truth. 
Without the Bible, the Creed would hardly be intelligible, 
and could have little interest for us. The Creed may be 
compared to the comprehensive view of a city or country- 
side that we get from a high building or hill; the Bible, to 
the nearer glimpses we have of human homes when we see 
them close at hand. The Creed is the Gospel in brief, a 
summary of the truths written large in the Scriptures. Yet 
its doctrines are as full of life and meaning as the Gospels 
themselves, provided we understand them in the light of the 
Gospel story. When an artist paints a picture, he first 
sketches, with charcoal, outlines of the figures that are to 
appear in the finished painting; and in doing this he is guided 
by the anatomical structure of the men or animals that are 
to be represented. Such an outline we have in the Creed, 
since it rightly analyzes the subject-matter of our faith. 
But the bare sketch is no picture; the artist must fill in his 
canvas with colors presenting the living reality as it meets 
the eye. So when we add to the Creed the details and 
color that the Bible supplies, our outline becomes as true 
and beautiful a picture as we can hope to make of him whose 
glory we can at the best image forth but dimly. 



36 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Limitations of our Knowledge of God. — What God 
has revealed is in its extent wisely adapted to our needs 
rather than to our wishes. What we need to know of God 
and of his will for the practical guidance of our conduct 
and the upbuilding of our spiritual life, he has made known 
to us. Many things to be sure, that our curiosity might 
desire to have revealed, have been hidden; but these, if 
known, would not help us in living aright. For example, 
we might naturally wish to know more about friends who 
have died; but we know that they are safe in God's keeping, 
and that they shall rise again. To learn about the con- 
ditions of their life in the world beyond would not help us 
more in doing our duty than does the knowledge we already 
have that our own future depends upon a faith that works 
out into righteousness. 

If, then, God's revelation has limits, we ought never to 
speak as though we possessed complete and infallible knowl- 
edge upon every question that arises. In teaching it is not 
always easy to say, "I don't know," and we are often tempted 
to add to what is revealed some opinion of our own or of 
other men's making. This has always been a fruitful source 
of religious strife, and a cause of stumbling to many who, 
seeking eternal truths, are given trivial and useless opinions. 
We ought never to be ashamed to say that we are not wise 
above what is revealed. And if we show the children that 
the reason why we cannot answer some question is because 
no answer is given in the Bible, we shall not lose ground with 
them; and we shall put them on their guard against " er- 
roneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word." 
When such a question is asked, we should point out that 
knowing the answer would not help us in doing right, and 
should also remind the children of our weakness and ig- 
norance in comparison with the majesty and wisdom of 
God. 



OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 31 

Faith and Salvation. — Sometimes the Creed is spoken 
of as being a form of words that it is the bounden duty of 
everyone to accept under pain of everlasting punishment. 
When the matter is so put, there is often a revolt from all 
forms and from every requirement to believe one thing more 
than another. We are then told that a person's opinions 
can have no bearing on his character in God's sight; only 
his actions and intentions can be supposed to count in any 
just judgment. Now if the Creed were nothing more than 
a collection of certain words, there could hardly be any 
obligation to accept it. But it is not a mere outward form; 
it expresses our inner convictions concerning our God. 
And so, although it might be hard enough to see how a form 
of words could have anything to do with salvation, we attach 
the most serious importance to the Creed as the outward 
expression of an inward and living faith. The necessity 
of faith, if we are to be saved, is strongly emphasized by our 
Lord and his apostles. Faith is the foundation of Chris- 
tianity and of the life of the individual Christian. The 
Creed is the natural expression of our faith. It is therefore 
reasonable and right that every person at Baptism should be 
required to accept the Creed; for in so doing he simply takes 
upon himself an obligation to believe what is true, just as 
in promising to keep God's Commandments he takes an 
obligation to do what is right. 

Creed and Character. — The knowledge and love of 
God go together; and from them springs that willing service 
which is perfect freedom. In teaching the Creed, therefore, 
we should constantly aim to show its bearing on conduct. 
Faith, if it is true faith, is bound to work out into a moral 
life, knowledge of the truth guides us in living aright, and 
to set the mind on God and all his goodness toward us sup- 
plies the highest motive to holiness. But many who know 
the great Christian truths with their minds, do not lay hold 



32 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



of them in such a way that their affections are kindled, and 
their conduct influenced and guided. For example, they 
accept with their minds the truth that all the baptized are 
one body in Christ, one communion and fellowship of the 
saints; but they fail to take this truth to heart, and to see 
that, since all Christians are thus members one of another, 
they ought to treat one another as brothers. Or they accept 
the communion of saints as meaning that all, whether living 
or dead, are one communion and fellowship, so that no real 
barrier separates us from our loved ones asleep in Jesus; 
but they miss the comfort and the love toward God that this 
truth brings to the heart, and the incentive to purer living 
that comes when it is pondered upon. It is therefore our 
duty to show the children not only what they ought to believe, 
but also the effect that this belief should have on their 
feeling and their conduct. We ought to give them a heart 
as well as a head knowledge of Christian truth. 

Again, a great many people thoroughly believe that the 
Christian way of living is right, but condemn doctrine and 
creed as unnecessary additions to the original purity of 
Christianity, and as harmful to character through turning 
men's attention away from their moral duty. If we show 
the children how Christian truth is the key to right living, 
and how each article of the Creed has a meaning for life 
and a place in the upbuilding of well-rounded character, 
they will not in later years fall into this mistake. If we teach 
them that belief is meant to be acted upon, they will come 
to see that intelligent faith is the only secure foundation for 
morality. 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 

INTRODUCTORY LESSON 

At the first meeting of the class two things ought to be 
made clear: the aim of the course, and the method of study. 
The explanation of these matters is no less important than 
the teaching of the lessons themselves, and will do much, 
if effectively presented, to arouse the children's interest. 

The aim of the course is to explain and illustrate the 
Creed by the Scriptures. The truths briefly stated in the 
Creed are the deepest and most important that we can try 
to learn, helping us to know God better as our personal God. 
See page i of this book. These truths all have a practical 
bearing on our conduct. See pages 31, 32. The Creed is a 
summary of the Gospel story, a brief statement of the love 
of God revealed in Jesus Christ; and as this is the central 
theme of our course, the Creed gives us a guiding outline 
for the year. Fuller knowledge of this great theme is given 
us by the Bible, from which we learn about God's revelation 
of himself to us and our duty toward him. Therefore we 
take some one truth of the Creed as our topic for each Sunday, 
and try to learn about it more fully from a text and a passage 
of the Bible. See pages vi. and 29. 

The foundation of the children's study is a knowledge of 
the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds, together with the 
Catechism answer, "First, I learn to believe in," etc. The 
pupils ought to know these by heart, and be ready to repeat 
them at any time through the year, inasmuch as the Creeds 

33 



34 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

give the sum and substance of our course. The method of 
studying the Bible lesson for each Sunday is explained on 
pages ii, 12 above and on page 5 of the Outline for Pupils. 
You should make sure that the children understand from 
several examples just what they are to do; first to notice 
carefully the topic of the lesson, then to read the text and the 
Bible passage, then to write answers in their note-books, 
and finally to learn the text by heart. You will need to see 
also that they know how to find in their Bibles or Prayer 
Books the passages of Scripture to which reference is made 
in the Outline. 

The next lesson aims to show what faith is, what we mean 
when we say at the beginning of our Creed, "I believe in." 
The Bible passage sets forth God's love, made manifest in 
his sending his Son to save us. Faith arises in our hearts 
in response to his divine love. Notice that questions 2, 3 
and 4 of the Outline may be answered directly from the Bible 
passage, and 1 from a general knowledge of the Gospel 
story; and that the last question requires a little reflection. 

LESSON 1 

FAITH. THE MEANING OF "I BELIEVE IN" 

Text, St. John i. 12. Bible lesson, St. John iii. 16 to 22 — 
Gospel for Monday in Whitsun-week. 

The wonderful love of God in giving his only Son for us is 
our first thought. "He spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all." — Rom. viii. 32. And our Saviour, carry- 
ing out his Father's will, came into the world; lived as a man 
among men, that he might make himself and the Father 
known to us, and might show us our duty by teaching and 
example; died for our sins; and rose again that we might have 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 35 

eternal life. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but 
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
our sins." — 1 John iv. 10. 

This love was shown in order that we may believe and be 
saved. Our Lord came for that purpose, and not in order 
to bring us into condemnation; although condemnation 
necessarily comes upon those who wilfully reject him. His 
coming brought us salvation, because eternal life is found in 
knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he has 
sent (John xvii. 3); because he taught us how to live so as 
to be fit for eternal happiness; because his death has taken 
away our sins; because his rising from the dead has brought 
us eternal life. Furthermore, there is in his love a wonderful 
power of arousing the faith and love of those who learn about 
him. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth," he said, "will 
draw all men unto me." — John xii. 32. In this he spoke 
of his crucifixion for our sins, and the power of his self- 
sacrificing love to arouse faith and love and service. How 
his love teaches men to love him is continually being shown 
in Christian experience. There are countless examples of 
men and women being converted from sin and built up into 
holiness through giving heed to our Saviour's redeeming 
love. (Some particular examples should be given in the 
lesson.) God's purpose, therefore, in sending his Son into 
the world was that all men might, if they would, believe and 
be saved. It is his will that his love, thus shown, should 
draw us from indifference and hardness to faith, and from 
sin to righteousness. 

God's wonderful love in giving his Son, and his gracious 
purpose of saving us sinners, put upon us the responsibility 
of believing in and serving him, or of rejecting him. Faith 
and love and right living cannot be a matter of compulsion; 
they must depend upon our free response to God's good- 
ness and love and righteousness. We are not forced to 



3 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

believe in, trust and love our parents and friends ; we 
can, if we choose, be hard and ungrateful, unloving and 
disobedient. But this is in the highest degree both foolish 
and wicked. In like manner an appeal is made to our 
minds and hearts by the love of God manifested in Jesus 
Christ, and we are morally bound to give the free response 
of faith. 

If we heed this appeal we are saved, as God purposes that 
we shall be; if we neglect it, we must suffer loss and even 
condemnation (verse 18). If we will not have light, or think 
light is not worth having, we must lose its benefits. Some- 
times a boy is careless about the opportunities of school, 
because he thinks it will not matter much to him later 
whether he is ignorant or well educated. Sometimes a 
man fails to make the most of himself, because he does not 
rightly understand what the world is like; he does not see 
his real opportunities, and he imagines that all sorts of im- 
possible plans will work. Sometimes a person in danger 
so acts, or fails to act, that great injury to himself results, 
because he misjudges the circumstances. (Particular in- 
stances should be used in class.) There is no use in pretend- 
ing that things are otherwise than they really are. "Sin 
ruins, the devil kills, and the world corrupts, with the same 
undeviating regularity as that with which fire burns, or water 
drowns, or poison kills." If we choose to think otherwise, 
we must suffer the consequences. So, if we neglect to heed 
the appeal of God's love in Christ, we shall miss the knowl- 
edge and love of God, on which our true well-being depends, 
and must suffer the loss due to our own folly. Christ came 
into the world to save us, and if we do not believe in him 
we act as shipwrecked sailors might, if they would not trust 
themselves to the lifesavers, and stayed on a ship that 
was going to pieces. The condemnation of the person who 
refuses to believe is in no way arbitrary or malignant. It is 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 



37 



the natural and right working out of the consequences that 
follow from his own decision. 

Again, a person's moral character has much to do with his 
accepting or rejecting Christ. Too many reject him because 
they are evil-doers; to accept him would bring their conduct 
to a searching test, and require them to give up the evil 
that they love. On the other hand, a person who desires 
to do right welcomes the knowledge of God, and is fitted to 
know and love him by willing to do his will. See page 20. 

"I believe in," as we use that expression in the Creed, de- 
notes, then, the living faith that arises in the Christian's 
heart in response to the love of God. We can best under- 
stand it by comparing it with what we mean when we say 
"I believe in" some person whom we know and trust. A 
child believes in his father and mother. He is sure of their 
love, he is confident that what they tell him is true, and he 
knows that it is right to obey them. His belief in them arises 
from his experience of their love and care for him, to which 
he responds. So in the Creed "I believe in" means to have 
faith, trust and confidence in God as a Person who loves us, 
who has told us all we need to know about himself, and whom 
we cheerfully desire to serve. It means far more than simply 
to say that we are willing to accept certain statements about 
God as true. It expresses the conviction of personal religion, 
our sense of relationship to our heavenly Father, and our 
trust in him. This is indicated by the form of expression. 
We can believe any truth, even though it is unimportant or 
does not concern our welfare; we believe in some person to 
whom we give our confidence. And we say "/ believe," 
even when we say the Creed all together, because the sin- 
gular pronoun emphasizes the personal, real and definite 
faith in each one of us that is called forth by God's love for 
each. Everyone must have faith in God for himself, just 
as he must feel for himself, or act, when he is responsible, 



38 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

of his own free will. God desires that each of us one by one 
should truly believe in him through Jesus Christ whom he 
has sent. And to as many as receive his only-begotten Son 
he gives "power to become the sons of God, even to them 
that believe on his name." 

If we have a true and living faith, we act upon it. Sup- 
pose a child in a burning house is told by his father to save 
himself by jumping into the net that the firemen are holding 
below; if he trusts his father, he makes the leap. So we en- 
deavor to act in all things, "as seeing him who is invisible." 

In sending his Son into the world God manifested his 

love for us. 
God's purpose in sending his Son was to bring salvation 

within the reach of us all. 
This wonderful love and this gracious purpose claim from 

us the response of faith. 
Our salvation justly depends upon our believing in God 

the Father through Christ. 
We can have faith only if we try to do God's will. 
The living faith that arises in response to God's love may 

be likened best to the trust that we have in persons. 
Faith, if it is true faith, will show itself in a good life. 

The next lesson reminds us of our duty to confess what 
we believe, both in words and in our manner of living; and 
shows us why we have the form of words that we call the 
Creed. The first question in the Outline may be answered 
from the text; the second from Romans x. See that the 
children know where to find the Epistle for St. Andrew's 
Day. The third question may be looked up in the third 
answer in the Catechism, and the last only needs a little 
thought. 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 39 

LESSON 2 
CONFESSING THE FAITH 

Review. God sent his Son into the world and showed 
his love for us. God's purpose in this was that we should 
be saved. We ought to give the response of faith. Our 
faith in God may be likened to the trust that we have in 
persons whom we know and love. 

Text, St. Matt. x. 32, 33. Bible lesson, Rom. x. 9 to 12 — 
first part of Epistle for St. Andrew's Day. 

If we have the living faith that is called forth by the love 
of God toward us, we ought to put it into words and make 
it appear in our conduct; for it is right to express what we 
feel, and to act in accordance with the truth that we know. 
This is what our Lord requires of us, if we are to be acknowl- 
edged by him at the last day. And St. Paul tells us that the 
outward confession of Jesus as Lord is necessary for sal- 
vation, no less than inward belief. For the power of Christ 
to save us from sin and to give newness of life lies in these 
two facts: that he is Lord, the divine Son of God; and that 
he has triumphed over death. We must therefore believe 
inwardly in him, and outwardly confess him, as our risen 
Lord. Accordingly "the beginning of the Christian life 
has two sides : internally it is the change of heart which faith 
implies, and this leads to righteousness, the position of ac- 
ceptance before God; externally it implies the confession of 
Christ crucified, and this puts a man into the path by which 
in the end he attains salvation" (Sanday and Headlam, 
Commentary on Romans, x. 10). And so, we may say, 
outward confession is of moral and spiritual importance, 
because, as we are free agents upon whom God does not 
force his benefits, we must ourselves lay hold upon the truth 



4Q 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



revealed in Jesus Christ, and by our own open confession 
of it allow it to have effect in forming the characters of 
ourselves and others. See also i John iv. 15. 

On this principle our Lord dealt with people while he was 
upon the earth. When he healed those who needed his help 
and had faith in him, he required them to say that they 
acknowledged him and relied upon him for help. See, 
for example: Luke xviii. 35 to end, in Gospel for Quinquages- 
ima; Matt. viii. 2, in Gospel for Third Sunday after 
Epiphany; Luke xvii. 12, in Gospel for Fourteenth Sunday 
after Trinity. In like manner the disciples put their faith 
into words. For example: St. John the Baptist, St. Peter 
and St. Thomas. See John i. 34; Matt. xvi. 16, in Gospel 
for St. Peter's Day; John xx. 28, in Gospel for St. Thomas's 
Day. So again, St. Paul bids St. Timothy, "Hold fast the 
form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith 
and love which is in Christ Jesus." — 2 Tim. i. 13. 

The Church has always put her faith into words. The 
Apostles' Creed has come down to us almost from the times 
of the apostles; it is so called because it teaches and con- 
fesses what the apostles believed and taught; and it sets 
forth in a few words the sum of their teaching as we find it 
in the New Testament. The Nicene Creed was drawn up 
in 325 and 381 a.d. by councils of bishops representing all 
parts of the Church. It contains the same truths as the 
Apostles' Creed only more fully expressed. Both these forms 
of the Creed have been used constantly in all parts of the 
Church throughout the world. Now in the Creed we use 
the singular pronoun, and say, "I believe in," because each 
one of us must have faith in God for himself, as we saw in 
our last lesson. But we recite our Creed all together, because 
truth is always one and the same; the teaching of the 
prophets, of Christ and of his apostles is one, and this true 
teaching is summed up in the Creed, which the Church in 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 4I 

all countries and ages holds as one, and confesses with united 
voice. 

In forming and using the Creeds the Church has not 
invented doctrines. She has simply put into brief and simple 
words the truths that God has made known to men concern- 
ing himself. In the Bible we have the story in detail of 
God's dealings with men; the Creed helps us to understand 
the Bible by showing us what its main truths are, much as the 
analysis of a book helps us to grasp the principal thoughts 
that it contains. The Creed, therefore, cannot change or 
have new doctrines added, since it can state only those truths 
that follow from the facts recorded in the Bible. See the 
eighth and sixth Articles of Religion. 

In saying the Creed we confess our Lord, through whom 
God the Father is made known, and the Holy Spirit is given. 
The Creed has been likened to a compass, by which the ship 
of salvation, the Church, is guided aright, because it points 
always to Christ. We have only to glance at it to see that 
the greater part is about what our Lord has done for our 
salvation; and so, when the Sponsors say for the child that 
he believes "all the Articles of the Christian Faith, as con- 
tained in the Apostles' Creed," they do not promise anything 
else than that he will "confess the faith of Christ crucified." 
To be sure, the Creed is made up of little parts, which we 
say one by one with slight pauses between. These are 
indicated in the Prayer Book by capital letters. They are 
called "articles" from articulum, a little joint of the body. 
Each of them states some particular doctrine. But the 
articles make up one body of truth, which all belongs to- 
gether. We cannot think of the Creed as a lot of disjointed 
fragments, without missing its real meaning as an expression 
of personal faith in our God. We are reminded of this by 
the phrase, "the Christian faith." In the Bible "the faith" 
is used to mean what is believed. Thus St. Jude says, 



42 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

"earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all 
delivered to the saints." See also Ephes. iv. 4 to 7, 1 Tim. 
iii. 9 and iv. 1. So u the faith" or "the Christian faith," 
meaning the harmonious body of truth concerning our God 
that is summed up in the Creed, corresponds with the word 
"faith," meaning our personal belief and trust in God. 

At Baptism the child is signed "with the sign of the cross, 
in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess 
the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his 
banner against sin, the world and the devil." An old name 
for the Creed was symbolum, which meant, before it was used 
for the Creed, the oath which soldiers took when they en- 
listed. It may remind us that the Creed binds all Christians 
together in one army; that men have fought for the faith 
(for example, the crusaders), and martyrs have died; and 
that we have to contend for the faith. This we can do, 
not by disputing about it, but by acknowledging that we 
believe, and by living in accordance with our belief. There 
is often a real temptation to be ashamed of our Lord and to 
care more for the opinions of our acquaintances than for him. 
But if we ever pretend that we do not care about him, or are 
silent when our silence makes us seem indifferent, we are 
cowards instead of faithful soldiers. If we are ever ashamed 
of doing right and of showing that we try to live in the way 
that Christ taught, we desert his banner. This is even more 
contemptible than to be ashamed of parents and benefactors, 
and to deny them (like Tito in Romoia); or to be ashamed 
of our country and to desert the flag. We shall deserve to 
hear our Lord say, "I know you not." But we can encour- 
age ourselves to manful confession of the faith in word and 
deed by considering the brave example of saints and martyrs. 
See for instance 2 Tim. i. 12, iv. 7, 8. And there stand 
always before us our Lord's promise to acknowledge those 
who confess him and his warning to those who deny him. 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 43 

We must confess our Lord, if we would have him acknowl- 
edge us. 

He required his disciples to give expression to their faith. 

The Church has always put her faith into words in the 
Creeds. 

The Creed is an outline of the truths about God made 
known by him and recorded in the Bible. 

The Creed with all its articles is simply an acknowledgment 
of God in Christ. 

To confess Christ means not only to say the Creed, but never 
to be ashamed of him or of living as he commands. 

The next lesson reminds us that the faith which we con- 
fess is in the Holy Trinity. Into this faith we were each of 
us baptized according to our Lord's command to his apostles. 
We believe, therefore, in the three divine Persons, the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three Persons 
are one God. The first two questions of the Outline may 
be answered from the Bible passage. See that the children 
know where to find it in the Prayer Book, on page 525 of the 
standard editions. The third question requires a simple 
conclusion to be drawn from the previous answers. Ques- 
tions 4, 5 and 6 may be answered from the Creeds. And the 
last question requires a little thought on the apparent con- 
tradiction between our belief in the three divine Persons and 
the commandment to have one God only. 

LESSON 3 

THE HOLY TRINITY, THREE PERSONS, ONE GOD 

Review. We have faith in God because of the love that 
he has shown toward us. This faith we ought to express. 
We put it into words, as our Lord would have us do; and into 
the words of the Creed, as his Church has done so long. 



44 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



And we should express our faith not only in words, but by 
living as Christ's soldiers and servants. 

Text, Ephes. iv. 5, 6. Bible lesson, St. Matt, xxviii. 18 to 
end — third Gospel at the Consecration of a Bishop. 

Each of us has been baptized in the Name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, after promising, 
either for himself or by his sponsors, that he would believe 
all the articles of the Christian faith as contained in the 
Apostles' Creed. See pages 248 and 262 of the Prayer Book, 
standard editions. There is, accordingly, a close connection 
between Baptism, by which persons are made Christians, 
and a confession of faith in the Holy Trinity. 

This connection goes back to the command of our Lord 
himself concerning Baptism. After his mighty resurrec- 
tion, when all authority was given unto him in heaven and 
in earth, he commanded his apostles to "make disciples of 
all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Consequently, 
wherever Christian missionaries have gone, whenever mem- 
bers have been added to Christ's Church, Baptism has been 
administered with the words that our Lord appointed. 
Now it is evidently right that anyone who desires to be 
baptized should have a belief corresponding to those solemn 
words. It is right that a candidate for Baptism should 
confess his faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
And it is right that he should be taught about these three 
Persons, and what each of them does for us. Therefore 
the Christian creed must be simply an expansion of the three- 
fold Name. Our creed grew out of our Lord's words, be- 
cause a form was needed which candidates for Baptism 
could use in confessing their faith; and because an outline 
was needed for teaching the truths that Baptism implies. 

This becomes plainer when we notice that the Apostles' 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 45 

Creed is divided into three paragraphs concerning the three 
divine Persons; and that the Nicene Creed, which is simply a 
fuller statement, has three corresponding paragraphs. All 
the articles of our belief, though they make up one body 
of truth, divide into three parts, telling of the Persons into 
whose Name we were baptized. And so, in answer to the 
question of the Catechism, "What dost thou chiefly learn 
in these articles of thy belief?" we say, " First, I learn to 
believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the 
world; secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, 
and all mankind; thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who 
sanctifieth me, and all the people of God." The very struc- 
ture of the creeds, then, follows the words used in Baptism, 
which our Lord himself prescribed. 

It is evident that everyone who is baptized rightly believes 
in the three divine Persons. But we must never forget that 
we do not believe in three gods, but in one God. This first 
principle, that God is one, he impressed upon men by the 
teaching and revelation of centuries, which is recorded in the 
Old Testament, before he made himself known as the triune 
God. Of the unity of God the next lessons will speak more 
fully, but the matter is summed up in the First Command- 
ment, "Thou shalt have none other gods but me." The 
unity of God is the very foundation of all true religion. 
Whoever does not believe that God is one, falls into the errors 
of the heathen with their many gods and idols. But the 
doctrine of the Triunity emphasizes the truth that God is one. 
We hold to "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." 

How can there be one only God, and yet three divine Per- 
sons? We must expect to find this hard to understand, since 
the Almighty is infinitely greater than we, and we cannot 
comprehend him; but we can understand in part, and can 
know him so far as he reveals himself to us. There is, at 



46 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

least, no direct contradiction in the doctrine, "Three in 
One and One in Three," as though we said, one God is three 
Gods or three Persons are one Person. What we believe 
is that "in the one true God there are three Persons, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are yet only one 
God." If, then, there is no real contradiction, there is no 
reason why we should not believe, even though we cannot 
fully understand. For there are many things, which we can- 
not comprehend or explain, that we know to be true. Thus 
sunlight has rays of light and of heat, and the actinic rays, 
which print a photograph. All three are distinct, and each 
has its own particular effects. For instance, heat rays may 
injure a film; only the actinic rays can make a picture. 
Yet the sunlight is one. Or, again, to take a different com- 
parison, each of us knows, feels, wills, and there is a dis- 
tinction in these mental powers; yet each of us is one individ- 
ual. These analogies must not be pressed too far, but they 
show that we can know some things which we cannot fully 
understand, and that apparent contradictions do not dis- 
prove what we have good reason to accept as true. 

That we have firm grounds for believing in one God in 
three Persons will appear more fully as we study, in the 
following lessons, the revelation that God has given of 
himself. The lessons are arranged in three divisions, and 
we aim to study about each of the Persons of the Holy 
Trinity, and to see that each is made known by what he does 
for us, in creating, redeeming and sanctifying. When we 
come to the end of our course and have learned about the 
revelation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we 
shall take up once more the subject of the Holy Trinity. 
For when we have seen how each of the Persons is made 
known to us, and why we are certain that God is one, we shall 
be in a position to understand better how these truths, 
contradictory at first sight, are really harmonious. We 



THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 



47 



shall see that "the doctrine of the Trinity is only the putting 
into such words as we can utter of what was disclosed about 
God when he came near to men in the appearing of Christ 
and the mission of the Holy Spirit" (Gore, The Creed of the 
Christian, p. 25). 

We prize the doctrine of the Trinity because it assures us 
that God is love. Suppose one of us lived apart from every- 
one else; he could not fulfil the royal law, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself, because there would be no one with 
whom he could have any relations. So, if God were one 
Person, he would not be eternally and essentially love. 
But since there are the eternal distinctions of the Persons in 
the Godhead, there is the eternal relation of love among 
them. Therefore God's very nature is love, and this the 
doctrine of the Trinity helps us to see. 

Faith in the Holy Trinity is confessed by everyone who is 
baptized. 

The confession of this faith is bound up with Baptism in 
consequence of our Lord's own command. 

The structure of the Creed follows the form of words that 
our Lord appointed to be used in Baptism. 

Faith in the Holy Trinity emphasizes the truth that there is 
one only God. 

This doctrine cannot be fully understood, but it is not self- 
contradictory. 

We can understand it better by studying some of the ways in 
which the three divine Persons are revealed. 

The doctrine of the Trinity means that God is love. 

The next lesson takes up our study about the First Person 
of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, and considers how he 
is revealed to us through nature, that is, the heavens and 
earth with all the wonderful and beautiful things they 
contain. 



GOD THE FATHER 

First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made 
me and all the world. 

LESSON 4 
ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 

Review. Our confession of faith in the Holy Trinity is 
required by our Lord's command about Baptism. The 
doctrine of the Trinity emphasizes the truth that God is 
one, as well as the truth that there are three divine Persons. 
We can understand this better by studying the revelation 
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Text, Psalm 19: 1. Bible lesson, Psalm 104: 1 to 25. 

When you have been in a beautiful wood, where the trees 
and flowers were even more lovely than in the finest park, 
you have said to yourself, perhaps, This is God's own garden; 
man could not plant a garden like that. If you have been 
in high mountains, and have looked over the peaks and ranges 
until your sight could reach no farther, you have felt awe, 
almost fear, at the vastness; and the thought has come to you, 
How glorious is the Maker of the mountains! So when 
you have seen the ocean stretching beyond the horizon, and 
the surf beating on the shore so mightily that the strongest 
man would be its plaything, you have felt the greatness of 
him to whom the sea is a very little thing. Or on a bright 
day in the country, when the sunlight and wind have made 

48 



GOD THE FATHER 



49 



you open your mouth and draw in your breath because it is 
so good to be alive, you have felt how glorious the Creator 
is who has made this beautiful world. And most impressive 
of all is the sky on a clear dark night, when the stars are past 
counting, and each world is more beautiful than a gem. 

When we stop to think about all the wonderful things in 
nature, our thoughts turn to the Creator even more than 
when we simply look at his works and enjoy them. For 
whenever we see things happen, we think that some cause 
is at work. Whether a happening is unusual and striking, 
such as an earthquake, or usual, like the rising and setting 
of the sun and the growth of grain, we say there is some cause 
for it. That cause had some other cause in its turn, and so 
on as far back as our thoughts can go. Thus we may trace 
back a loaf of bread to flour, to wheat, to earth and sun and 
rain. But back of all is the great Cause, the Creator, upon 
whom all things depend. We do not deny that each event 
has its natural cause; for example, that an earthquake is 
due to the shrinking of the earth and the settling of its crust. 
But we do believe that God's power is behind all things, 
and that nature is as we find it, not because things just 
happened of themselves, but because God made them so. 

And when we reflect on the beauty and order of all things, 
and consider how the stars move in their courses so regularly, 
how the earth is fitted to be the home of men and animals, 
the air of birds, and the sea of fishes, how these all are suited 
to their place in nature, we are impelled to think that there 
is a supreme Architect who has designed the natural world. 
Especially do we so think when we consider how the creatures 
now living have descended from others, their forms and habits 
changing to suit their surroundings, and how the history 
of nature shows that all things work out toward higher 
developments, the lower forms of life evolve into more 
complex, and man is the crown of all. 



So 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



That nature speaks to us of God, some of the Psalms 
teach most beautifully. Thus our Bible lesson gives a 
glorious description of the natural world as being a revela- 
tion of the incomparable majesty of God. (The latter part 
of the psalm has been omitted from the lesson for the sake 
of brevity, but may well be used in class if time allows. 
Only such points will be brought out here as seem best suited 
for children; the teacher, however, will find it useful to study 
the whole psalm in Dr. Kirkpatrick's commentary on the 
Psalms, to which acknowledgment is due for much that 
follows.) The psalmist meditates on the power, wisdom 
and goodness that are manifested in God's creation and 
maintenance of the world. In part, as in verses 5 to 10, he 
thinks of the process of creation, but chiefly of the present 
order of the world and its continuous preservation by the 
will of the good God. He did not make the world only to 
leave it to itself, but constantly sustains it by his indwelling 
presence. The first thought, in verses 1 to 5, is that the forces 
of nature are an expression of God's almighty power. Light 
may be called the garment of God; like a robe it reveals, 
even while concealing him. The vault of heaven he has 
stretched out as easily as a man might pitch his tent. The 
storm cloud and the tempest are symbols of his coming; 
he controls the thunderstorm and the cyclone as easily as a 
driver his chariot, and when they approach we feel his tre- 
mendous power. Then follows, in verses 5 to 10, a brief 
description of the creation of sea and land. God established 
the earth; he covered it with waters, so that even the hills were 
submerged; and then at his command, mighty as though 
his voice were thunder, the waters fled away from the land, 
and are confined to the boundaries of ocean. Verses 10 to 13 
tell us that God made the springs and streams, providing 
water for beast and bird. And verses 13 to 16, that he sends 
rain, causing the ground to bring forth grass for the cattle, 



GOD THE FATHER 



Si 



and wine, oil and bread for man. Then we are reminded 
(verses 16 to 19) that he provides for the birds and beasts, so 
that each has its suitable dwelling-place, as the stork in the 
fir trees, the wild goat in the hills, and the little coney in the 
rocks. (The coney is an animal not unlike a prairie-dog in 
appearance, which lives in holes in the rocks, where it makes 
its nest and conceals its young, and hides on the least alarm.) 
Furthermore, as verses 19 to 24 tell us, God has appointed 
the regular changes of the moon, which mark periods of time 
and the proper seasons for festivals; and has made the sun to 
go unfailingly on its daily course, so that night and day serve 
for the wild beasts and for man. In short, all the manifold 
works of God show forth his wisdom. Cp. Pss. 95: 3 to 7, 
148: 3 to 7. 

Thus both nature and the Scriptures tell us that all things 
have been made by a wise and kind Creator, and that his 
works show forth his almighty power and goodness. "The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth 
his handiwork." This we should have in mind when we 
confess our faith in the "Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth." When we say that he is Almighty, we mean that 
he has the power to do everything, and nothing can resist 
him; but that he will and can do nothing that is evil and 
contrary to his own nature. "He abideth faithful, he cannot 
deny himself." — 2 Tim. ii. 13. And when we add that he 
is the Maker "of all things visible and invisible," we mean 
that not only what we see, but also what we cannot see and 
understand, is in his power. No one then ought to have 
any foolish superstitions or fears, as about luck or magic or 
ghosts. We depend upon God, and on him only, for all that 
we have and are; and this ought to be so real to us that we 
are truly thankful for "our creation, preservation and all 
the blessings of this life." 



52 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

The beauty and vastness of nature speak to us of a Creator. 

The order of nature implies one great Cause. 

The fitness of the world for living creatures suggests that 

there is a supreme Architect. 
That all the manifold works of nature show forth the 

power and wisdom of God is the teaching of the Psalms. 
We ought to feel with thankfulness our dependence on 

the Almighty Creator. 

The next lesson emphasizes the truth that there is one 
only God, and false gods are nothing. This is taught to 
men through what God's chosen people experienced in their 
history. We study, therefore, some incidents in the story 
of their deliverance from Egypt and of their winning the 
promised land. If some of the pupils are willing to do more 
than the required lesson, let them each read a Bible story 
illustrating God's dealings with his people; e.g., Exod. Hi., 
Ps. 105: 23 to 39, Exod. xiv., Josh. vi. 1 to 22, or viii. 1 to 23. 

LESSON 5 

ONE GOD 

Review. God's power and wisdom are revealed in nature, 
as we are told in Psalm 104. 

Text, Deut. vi. 4, 5. Bible lesson, Psalm 135. 

Nature not only speaks to us of God, as verses 5 to 8 of 
our Bible lesson again remind us, but also tells us that God 
is one. We have come to see, as men did not see once, that 
everything comes to pass in a regular and orderly manner, 
not by chance or without a cause. Day and night, summer 
and winter, the tides or the growing grass, speak to us of 
natural law. We do not imagine, like savages and ignorant 
people, that things contrary to the regular order of nature 



GOD THE FATHER 



53 



can be brought to pass by evil spirits, or through magic and 
witchcraft. This means that nature is one, and therefore 
we are sure that the God of whom nature tells us is one. 
The regular laws of nature and its harmonious beauty and 
plan speak of one infinite Mind. 

Nature, however, is only one of the revelations of God. 
He has also made himself known through the history of 
nations, and he revealed himself in a special way to the 
Jewish people, whose whole history as recorded in the Old 
Testament shows God's providential guidance. The Old 
Testament tells us that God chose the people of Israel to 
be his in a peculiar sense. He promised Abraham, a man 
who had faith in him, that he would protect his descend- 
ants, so that his family should grow into a great nation, 
and should possess the beautiful country of Canaan. 
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, or Israel (Gen. xxxv. 10), was 
obliged because of a famine to remove with his family into 
Egypt. There in the course of years his descendants grew 
into a numerous people. Their numbers alarmed the King 
of Egypt, and he began to oppress them. Therefore God 
sent Moses to deliver them from bondage. And in sending 
him God said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of 
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." — Exod. iii. 14. That 
is, he revealed himself as being not one among many gods 
and so needing a name to distinguish him from them, but 
as the one, true, self-existent God. In order to deliver his 
people, God sent the plagues against Egypt, which are 
enumerated in Psalm 105: 23 to 37. And when Pharaoh let 
the Israelites go, but afterwards pursued them with an army, 
God enabled them to cross the Red Sea in safety, and over- 
whelmed the Egyptians. The story of this deliverance is 
fully told in Exodus, chapters iii., v., and vii. to xiv. in- 
clusive. That it impressed upon the Israelites the truth 
that God is one may be illustrated from the close connec- 



54 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



tion of the First Commandment with the words, " I am the 
Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt." 
— Exod. xx. 2. 

When the Israelites began to enter the land of Canaan 
under the leadership of Joshua, they had to fight against 
two powerful enemies, Sihon and Og. — Ps. 135:10 to 13, 
Deut. ii. 26 to iii. 8. And then they had the task of conquer- 
ing the nations in the main part of the land. Two incidents 
of this war are the capture of Jericho and of Ai. — Josh. vi. 
1 to 22 and viii. 1 to 23. These will serve as illustrations; 
the principle to be brought out is that the Israelites recog- 
nized God as their helper, made known to them by his 
providential guidance in their history. Cp. Ps. 44: 1 to 5, 
Josh. xxiv. 1 to 25. 

During their wanderings and wars they were often tempted 
to fall away from the worship and service of the one true 
God, and take up the idolatry of the nations with whom they 
came in contact. These heathen peoples worshiped strange 
idols with cruel sacrifices, such as burning children in honor 
of Moloch; and had many wicked customs, which they 
thought were pleasing to their gods. It was to guard the 
chosen people against being led away into idolatry and 
immorality that they were commanded to kill the heathen 
who were in Canaan and to make no treaties or marriages 
with them. — Deut. vii. 1 to 7. But they yielded many times 
to the temptation to associate with the heathen and worship 
their gods. For this they were often severely punished, but 
when they repented God showed mercy and delivered them. 
See for example Exod. xxxii., Numb. xxv. 1 to 6, Judges iii. 
5 to 12. 

In this way they gradually learned the folly of serving the 
many idols and imaginary gods of heathen peoples. — Ps. 
135: 15 to 19, Isa. xliv. 9 to 21, 1 Cor. viii. 6. And they 
came to know surely the first great truth of religion, that 



GOD THE FATHER 55 

there is one only God who rules over the affairs of men, guides 
and guards those who believe in and serve him, and desires 
the worship and obedience of men. See the last three verses 
of our Bible lesson and the text. 

The unity of nature tells us that God is one. 

This truth is more clearly revealed in the history of Israel, 

particularly in God's choosing a people and delivering 

them from slavery in Egypt. 
It is revealed also in the story of his helping them to win 

the promised land. 
They were tempted often to worship false gods and to follow 

heathen ways, and were punished until they repented. 
Thus they learned that there is no God but the Lord, and 

that they must serve him only. 

Note. — More material, probably, has been suggested 
by way of illustration than can be used in an hour, and the 
teacher should select such of the Bible stories as seem 
best suited to the class. 

The next lesson reminds us of the just commandments 
that God gave to his people, and the revelation of himself 
as the God of righteousness. The first of our Bible passages 
is in praise of his perfect law, and the second tells of his 
goodness toward those who are righteous. 

LESSON 6 
THE GOD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 

Review. God delivered his chosen people from Egypt, 
and helped them to win the promised land. He taught 
them thus that he is the one mighty and true God, whom 
alone they must serve. 

Text, Psalm 37: 28. Bible lesson, Psalms 19: 7 to 12 and 
34: 15 to end. 



56 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Everyone who is not morally an idiot knows that there 
is a difference between right and wrong. While we do not 
always see just what is right in a given case, we feel sure 
that we have a duty always, and ought to find out what it is. 
Even those who do not commonly use the words "right" 
and "duty" have the ideas; for instance, a boy may call a 
certain action "fair" or speak of such a person as "square," 
but he means that the action or person is worthy of respect 
and imitation. Now if we care enough for justice and right 
to think out what we mean by them, we see that the difference 
between right and wrong is real and everlasting, No matter 
what people may pretend, no matter how successful meanness 
may be, right is right, and nobody can make wrong anything 
else but wrong. Besides, we feel that we ought to do what 
we believe to be right. Something else may be advantageous, 
and doing our duty may bring loss and suffering, but the 
only thing worth while is to be clean, honest, square, to do 
right just because it is right. We cannot get away from the 
feeling of obligation. Well then, if right and duty are as 
firm as the ground underfoot or the heavens over us, they 
speak to us of the God of righteousness, who has established 
his moral law, and to whom we are accountable. 

The Israelites in Old Testament times recognized, as we 
have seen, that God is made known as Creator by his works, 
and that he specially manifested himself by his providential 
care for their nation. They believed further that he re- 
vealed himself more fully still by his law. During their 
journeyings in the wilderness they received the Command- 
ments, and all through their history they were gradually 
taught more completely what God would have them do. 
And his law showed that God is righteous, requiring of his 
people what is just; no other nation had "statutes and 
judgments so righteous." — Deut. iv. 5 to 9. 

Accordingly God's people constantly delighted to set 



GOD THE FATHER 



57 



forth the praises of his law, as in Psalm 19: 7 to 12. Here 
we are told that the law of God is perfect, refreshing and in- 
vigorating the soul. It gives wisdom to the simple, that is, 
the man whose mind is open to learn. The statutes, or pre- 
cepts, of the Lord make the heart glad by showing just 
what we ought to do. His commandment gives us light to 
see our duty (cp. Ps. 119: 105). The law, called the fear 
of the Lord, verse 9, because it plants the fear of God in 
men's hearts, is clean or pure in contrast to the wickedness 
of heathenism. Its judgments, or decisions on particular 
subjects, are true and right because they carry out principles 
of absolute justice. Such is the law of the Lord, and it 
may be likened to fine gold or the sweetest food. In this way 
we might paraphrase Psalm 19: 7 to 12 to get the meaning 
clearly. The thought of the psalm as a whole is thus ex- 
pressed by Dr. Kirkpatrick: "More wonderful than the 
heavens declaring God's glory, more beneficent than the 
sun's light and heat, is Jehovah's revelation of his will, 
which quickens and educates man's moral nature." Surely 
we all enter into the spirit of this psalm, and rejoice to 
believe in the righteous God, inasmuch as we all care for 
right and justice. Suppose there were no just God, and the 
world were a place where wickedness was bound in the end 
to be successful! But wrong cannot stand, because (cp. 
verse 1 with verse 7) the Creator whose power and majesty 
are made known by the heavens, is likewise the Lawgiver 
whose righteousness is made known by the moral goodness 
and beauty of his law. 

Besides recognizing the splendor of God's law, the chosen 
people perceived from their experience of life that God cares 
for the righteous and punishes the wicked. This is ex- 
pressed in Psalm 34: 15 to end, on which only one or two 
comments need be made here. In verse 19 it is not said 
that a good man shall have no troubles, but that the Lord 



58 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

delivers him in spite of them. In verse 20 "keepeth all 
his bones" is a metaphor that denotes the preservation of 
the man's whole being. The main thought of this passage 
should be fully brought out and illustrated in class. It 
is also expressed in Psalm 37, verses 1, 2, 7 to 10, 25, and 35 
to end, which teach us not to murmur or be envious when 
we see the wicked successful and the good unfortunate, 
for in the end God will destroy the wicked and help the 
righteous. And so we are convinced that a God of right- 
eousness lives and reigns who will do justice, even though 
the good enter into his kingdom only through much tribu- 
lation. "All things work together for good to them that 
love God." — Rom. viii. 28. The world is not essentially 
evil, for he who made and rules it is on the side of right; and 
even the pain and evil in the world may be ministers of 
good, bringing men to repentance and faith. No matter 
what happens, we may be sure that "the Lord loveth the 
thing that is right; he forsaketh not his that are godly, but 
they are preserved forever." 

The everlasting difference between right and wrong speaks 

of the God of righteousness. 
His law reveals his righteous nature more fully. 
The excellence of his law is praised in the Psalms. 
Experience of life convinces his people that the God of 

righteousness " forsaketh not his that are godly." 

The next lesson goes on to show that God is not only 
righteous and just, but also kind and merciful. Of this his 
people were sure from his dealings with men. They were 
convinced that he has both the power and the will to help, and 
they put their trust in him. The teacher is reminded of 
what is said on page ix. about omitting this lesson or com- 
bining it with the following, in case the course mast be 
shortened. 



GOD THE FATHER $g 

LESSON 7 
THE GOD OF MERCY AND LOVING-KINDNESS 

Review. The law that God gave reveals him as the God 
of righteousness, whose law is perfect. And his people 
know that the Judge of all the earth will do right. 

Text, Psalm 145: 9. Bible lesson, Psalm 146. 

God is made known, we have seen, through nature, 
through the history of his chosen people and through his 
law. But he revealed himself more directly to certain men, 
the prophets, through whom he taught his people. For from 
time to time men appeared to whose hearts the Spirit of God 
spoke, and who had a message from him. Sometimes he 
showed them his will, or made his nature better known to 
them, by means of visions (Isa. vi. 1 to 9). Sometimes he 
showed them what would come to pass in the future, and 
revealed especially the establishment of Messiah's king- 
dom. Sometimes the message laid upon them was that 
they should denounce wickedness. These inspired prophets 
had a deeper and more intimate knowledge of God than 
ever comes naturally to men; and we have in the Bible 
records of their teaching. This, we must remember, is a still 
more important manner of revelation than those we have 
spoken of before. 

What God taught through the prophets is the same truth 
about himself and his will for men that he revealed in other 
ways. Thus they speak of his almighty power as Creator; 
for example, Isa. xlv. 12 and 18, Jer. x. 12. They declare 
that there is one only God and idols are nothing (Isa. xliv. 
8 to 21). And they proclaim that he desires righteousness, 
and will judge the wicked (Micah vi. 8 to 16, Zeph. hi. 5, 
Zech. vii. 9 to end). But another message they give quite as 



60 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

emphatically, that God is merciful to his people if they are 
faithful (Lam. iii. 22, Joel ii. 12, 13, Jer. ix. 24 and xxxi. 3); 
and merciful to all men if they will serve him (Isa. ii. 2, 3, 
xlix. 6, and lx. 1 to 4) . Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the 
prophets felt the nearness of God to his people and to all 
men, and had a living trust in him. And so, although they 
most earnestly taught Israel to worship the one, Almighty 
God of righteousness and judgment, they no less earnestly 
taught men to put confidence in the God of mercy. — Isa. 
xxvi. 3, 4, Jer. xvii. 7. We may in this lesson, then, connect 
the prophetic method of revelation with the truth that we 
can trust in the mercy and loving-kindness of God. 

The inspired writers of the Psalms were filled with con- 
fident faith in the goodness of the Lord; see for example 
Psalm 1 00. Our Bible lesson begins with praises of the 
Lord, and sets forth his power and goodness as its cen- 
tral thought. His eternal omnipotence is contrasted with 
the passing feebleness of men. Even princes, however 
powerful they may seem for a time, must die and become 
helpless; as soon as the breath has left their bodies, all their 
schemes perish. (Illustrate from history or from current 
events.) But happy is the man who trusts in the Lord; 
for in contrast to feeble and perishing men God is almighty 
and changeless. He made heaven and earth and sea, he 
rules over all things now; undoubtedly he is able to help. 
This thought we may illustrate briefly from other passages 
of Scripture. His eternal existence is contrasted with man's 
short life in Psalm 90: 1 to 11, and with the passing natural 
world in Psalm 102: 25 to 28. We can rely on him as the 
everlasting Lord; "the eternal God is thy refuge, and 
underneath are the everlasting arms." — Deut. xxxiii. 27. 
Again, space as well as time is nothing to him; we are every- 
where under his all-seeing eye. — Ps. 139: 7 to 13. Since, 
then, he is Almighty, everlasting, present everywhere, he 



GOD THE FATHER 61 

cannot change; "he keepeth his promise forever." And 
his loving-kindness is sure. The Psalmist, looking with 
faith on the experiences of life, sees that God's providential 
care extends to all who have need of him. He helps them 
to right that suffer wrong, he feeds the hungry. He frees 
men from prison, that is, from suffering, and gives sight to 
the blind, that is, figuratively, enlightenment to moral and 
spiritual ignorance. Literally these sayings are fulfilled in 
the miracles of our Lord and the apostles. God helps the 
stranger, the fatherless and the widow, he cares for the right- 
eous and punishes the wicked; as we often see for ourselves. 
Such is the Lord, and his reign is not transitory like that of 
earthly princes, but forever. In this way we may paraphrase 
and illustrate our Bible lesson. 

We can depend, then, upon the goodness of God. "The 
Lord is loving unto every man, and his mercy is over all 
his works." As Psalm 23 tells us, he leads us as a shep- 
herd his sheep. And so, since he is both Almighty and 
merciful, " in God we trust," just as, in lower degree, we 
trust a human person who is both able and willing to 
help us. 

God revealed himself in Old Testament times most directly 
to the prophets. 

They taught that he is Almighty, one, righteous, and a 
merciful God in whom men should trust. 

This is taught in Psalm 146 also, where the power and good- 
ness of God are contrasted with the feebleness of the 
mightiest among men. 

Since God is the Almighty Creator and Ruler, and shows 
himself to be merciful and kind, we trust in him. 

The next lesson goes on to the full revelation of God's 
goodness given by our Lord in his teaching that God is our 
Father, who loves and cares for each one of us. 



62 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

LESSON 8 
OUR FATHER; GOD'S LOVE AND CARE FOR US 

Review. God alone is Almighty, and he is merciful and 
kind. Therefore we put our trust in him. 

Text, i St. John iii. i. Bible lesson, St. Matt. vi. 24 to end 
— Gospel for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. 

That God is our Father is a fundamental doctrine of 
Christianity. Even in the Old Testament he is revealed as 
merciful and loving, and is spoken of as Father (Deut. 
xxxii. 6, Isa. lxiii. 16, Ps. 68: 5 and 103: 13); but the Father- 
hood of God is perfectly revealed by Christ. He uses the 
name Father in the Lord's Prayer and at others of the most 
impressive points in the Sermon on the Mount. See Matt, 
v. 16, 45 and 48, vi. 4, 6 and 18. The apostles, too, speak 
of God as our Father, as in Phil. i. 2, Gal. iv. 6, sentences 
at Morning Prayer. 

Our Lord's teaching about the Fatherhood of God, as 
given in our Bible lesson, is familiar to everyone, but much 
study and reflection will not exhaust its meaning. As the 
points to be brought out and illustrated the following are 
suggested. We ought never to be anxious about even the 
necessaries of life; for life is more than food and the body 
than clothing, and God, who has given us life will provide 
the means for its preservation. Why are we anxious about 
food? For, although the birds store up none, the Father 
feeds them; and we are of more value than they. And why 
are we anxious about clothing? For the lilies in the field do 
not spin, and yet God clothes them more beautifully than the 
richest king; and he will much more clothe us than the 
flowers which are gone in a day. Therefore we ought not to 
be anxious about food and clothing, which the followers of 
mammon seek; for our heavenly Father knows our needs. 



GOD THE FATHER 63 

If we seek the kingdom of God, all these things will be added 
to us; that is, if we make it our object to serve God, we find 
that he gives us all that is for our good, not everything, to be 
sure, that we happen to wish for, but all that we need. In 
fact he gives us many pleasures and blessings besides. To 
sum up, God is our Father, who knows and cares for our 
needs, and provides for us, his children. 

A few comments may be added here on points that need 
be treated only incidentally, if at all, in class. " Mammon " 
is a Syriac word meaning riches, and indicates not simply 
the possession of wealth, but the spirit of covetousness. 
"Take no thought," or better, "be not anxious," does not 
mean that we should fail to take due care of our bodies, or 
should be wasteful and make no provision for the future, 
but that we should not fret and worry even about the things 
we need. "Meat" is used in its old sense of food generally. 
"Stature" ought probably to be translated "age," or "the 
measure of his life." Then the meaning of the verse would 
be: No one by being anxious can add even a little to the 
length of his life; if then, anxiety about our lives is useless, 
why should we be anxious about the means of sustaining life ? 
"The grass of the field" includes the flowers growing in it, 
which were cut down with it for fuel. 

If we would fully appreciate God's love toward us, we 
should distinguish two ways in which we are his children, 
by creation and by adoption. Through his creative power 
our heavenly Father gives being to men, as to all creatures; 
and he makes mankind "in his image," giving us the ca- 
pacity to know him and to do his will. He is the Father of 
all men, because he made and cares for all. But we are 
also the children of God by adoption; he is in a special sense 
the Father of those who believe. All men, though the sons 
of God by creation, turned out bad sons; they left their 
Father and chose evil as their master. Then he sent the 



64 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Saviour to bring all men back, and "as many as received 
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, 
even to them that believe on his name." See also Rom. 
viii. 14 to 17, Gal. iv. 4 to 8. God adopts those who believe 
in him through Christ. His family on earth is the Church, 
and in Baptism we are made his children by adoption and 
grace. He takes into his family as many of his children 
by creation, who have wandered away, as will return to 
him. 

Thus God is truly our Father, loving each individual in 
a way that infinitely surpasses the love of the best earthly 
father for his children, and caring for each with an ever- 
watchful providence. "Behold what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 
sons of God." He does for each what is best, though often 
we cannot see whither he is leading us. Cp. Heb. xii. 
6 to 12. A soldier, though he cannot see much of the 
battle, and does not know his general's plans, trusts him. 
Once when a storm was raging, a boy at sea was asked 
whether he was not afraid. "No, my father is at the helm." 
Since God is our Father, worry is useless and sinful; we can 
serve him and fear nothing. Whoever can truly say, "I 
believe in God the Father," knows that God cares for us 
and will supply our needs. 

The truth that God is our Father, which was partly known 

before, was perfectly revealed by our Lord. 
He teaches that our heavenly Father knows and cares for 

each individual, and provides for the needs of each. 
God is the Father of all as Creator, and the Father in a 

special sense of those who believe. 
Since God is our Father, we have confident trust in him, 

free from all worry and anxiety. 

The next lesson brings out the highest sense in which we 



GOD THE FATHER 65 

speak of the Fatherhood of God, the truth, namely, that he 
is eternally the Father of his only-begotten Son. The sub- 
ject necessarily is not easy, and the children may fear that 
they cannot answer the questions; but, as the teacher should 
point out, these follow the Bible lesson and text closely, and 
may be answered almost in the words of Scripture. The 
teacher will be repaid for studying the Bible lesson in West- 
cott, The Epistles oj St. John. 

LESSON 9 

THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST; GOD IS 

LOVE 

Review. Our Lord tells us we need never be anxious; 
for God, who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, will supply 
our wants. God is our heavenly Father, who loves and cares 
for all his children, and specially blesses those who believe 
in him. 

Text, 2 St. John 3. Bible lesson, 1 St. John iv. 7 to end — 
Epistle for the First Sunday after Trinity. 

There are among men different degrees of fatherhood. 
Thus we call our ancestors our fathers, as in the hymn, 
"Our fathers' God to thee," although our forefathers did 
not directly give us life, and are not so closely related to us 
as our own fathers. In like manner there are different ways 
in which God is the Father. We have seen that he is the 
Father of all men as Creator, and the Father of some men in a 
special sense — namely, of those who believe, and are made 
his children by adoption. In the highest and only perfect 
way he is the Father of his only-begotten Son, and it is in 
this sense especially that he is called God the Father in the 
Creed. He has an only Son, who is related to him in a way 
wholly different from the relation in which even the greatest 



66 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

and best of his human children stand to him. Human sons 
have just the same nature as their human fathers, they are 
men; God's only Son has just the same nature as his divine 
Father, he is God. 

Our Lord repeatedly spoke of God as his Father in a 
unique sense. For instance : " my Father which is in heaven " 
(Matt. vii. 21, last verse of the Gospel for the Eighth Sunday 
after Trinity); "my heavenly Father" (Matt, xviii. 35, last 
verse of the Gospel for the Twenty-second Sunday after 
Trinity); "my Father" (John xv. 1 and 10, in the Gospel 
for St. Mark's Day). See also Matt. xi. 27. And the apos- 
tles speak often of " the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"; 
for example, Rom. xv. 6, in the Epistle for the Second 
Sunday in Advent; 2 Cor. xi. 31, last verse of the Epistle 
for Sexagesima; Col. i. 3, first verse in the Epistle for the 
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity. See also our text. 

The eternal Fatherhood of God is set forth in our Bible 
lesson. His love toward us is shown by his sending his 
Son into the world that we might live through him. But 
that our Lord came into the world implies that he was with 
the Father before he came among men; that we live through 
him implies that he is of a nature vastly greater than ours. 
And St. John speaks of him as God's "only-begotten Son." 
This indicates that he is not made, or created, as all things 
and men and angels are. All these have come into being 
through God's creative power, and are dependent upon his 
indwelling presence for their continuance; whereas the 
Son is not a creature, but essentially of the same divine nature 
as the Father. And so, whoever desires that God should 
dwell in him and he in God must "confess that Jesus is the 
Son of God." This being so, we see that God is the Father 
of Jesus Christ in the truest and most perfect sense. 

"God is love," St. John further declares. This one 
word love best expresses the inmost nature of the Almighty. 



GOD THE FATHER 67 

Since the Father of his own free will sent his beloved Son, 
his only Son, to die for us, though we were alienated from 
him by sin, "we have known and believed the love that 
God hath to us." But God loves us because he w love 
essentially and eternally. Men have existed for him to love 
only a little while, and the love that he has toward us is a 
manifestation of his divine nature, of what he is in himself. 
He is love, and consequently shows forth love toward us, 
because he is eternally Father; before the worlds were made, 
before there were angels or men for him to love, he existed, 
not as a single, solitary Person, but as the Father of his 
only-begotten Son. Cp. John xvii. 24. In the Holy Trinity, 
we should remember also, the perfect union of the Father 
and the Son is realized through the Holy Spirit. And so, 
because God is Father from all eternity, and the Holy Spirit, 
proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son, is the 
bond of mutual love and union, God is eternally and essen- 
tially love. 

The truth that God is love in his very nature is of the 
deepest practical value, for it is the basis of all our love 
toward him and toward men. Let us therefore emphasize 
the following points in our Bible lesson. Since God is love, 
every one that loves is born of him and knows him, whereas 
he that does not love does not know God. Since he loved 
us, and sent his Son to die for our sins, we ought to love 
one another. We love because he first loved us. And if 
we love him whom we have not seen, we must assuredly 
love our brethren. 

In the highest sense God is the Father of our Lord Jesus 

Christ. 
Our Lord speaks of God as being in a special sense his 

Father, and the apostles call God "the Father of our 

Lord Jesus Christ," 



68 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Since he who came into the world to save us is God's only 

begotten Son, God is manifestly Father in his very 

nature. 
God is love essentially, because he is the Father of his only 

begotten Son. 
Because God is love and has manifested his love toward us, 

we love him and our fellow men. 

REVIEW 

The next hour should be used for a review of the course 
thus far (see page 13). We have tried to see, first, that 
Christian faith means belief in the living God, who loves us, 
and who has shown his love in such ways that we can know 
and love him and strive to do his will. Secondly, that 
we ought to confess this faith both by word and deed. 
Thirdly, that this faith, as our Lord himself taught, is faith 
in one God, who exists in three Persons. Then we set be- 
fore ourselves the aim of studying the revelation given to 
us of each of these Persons, and first, of God the Father. 
He is the Almighty Creator, revealing himself as such alike 
in his works and in the Scriptures (lesson 4). He is one 
God, who taught his chosen people by his providential deal- 
ings with them to worship and serve him alone (lesson 5). 
He is righteous, and manifests himself to be so by the 
knowledge of right and wrong which we find in our hearts, 
by his perfect law and by his care for the righteous (lesson 
6). He is merciful, no less than he is just, and this he re- 
vealed through the prophets especially (lesson 7). In these 
lessons, then, we studied some great truths about God and 
also some of the ways in which he has made himself known, 
endeavoring thus to see that he is a real and living God, 
whom we may know and in whom we may trust. Then we 
considered (lesson 8) the revelation of him as our Father, 



GOD THE FATHER 69 

which was begun in the Old Testament and fully given by 
our Lord. And finally we have seen that he is Father eter- 
nally, and that therefore God is essentially love. 

The teacher should lay special stress on three points. 
First, the Old Testament revelation has made known for 
all time the unity of God; and this truth was more fully 
taught, not set aside, by our Lord. Secondly, the one, 
Almighty, righteous God, who punishes sin with strict jus- 
tice, is merciful and loving. Thirdly, the method of the 
Old Testament revelation is adapted to our human ca- 
pacities; God speaks through nature, history, the law and 
the prophets in such a way that we can understand the 
message. 

In lesson 10 we begin the second paragraph of the Creed, 
concerning God the Son, whom we know as our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Redeemer of us all. That he is truly the Son of 
God and truly became man to save us is the profound truth 
which we must try to see more perfectly by our study of the 
Bible. And first we consider, in lesson 10, that he is the 
only-begotten Son, who perfectly reveals God. This great 
subject is not easy, but if the children notice carefully what 
the Bible lesson tells them, they will see how to answer the 
questions of the Outline, and will find that the subject grows 
clear and deeply interesting. 



GOD THE SON 

Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all 
mankind. 

LESSON 10 
THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD 

Review. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
eternally the Father of his only-begotten Son. His very 
nature is love. 

Text, St. John iii. 16. Bible lesson, Heb. i. i to 13 — 
first Epistle for Christmas-day. 

In our lessons concerning God the Father we learned of 
the ways in which he made himself known to men before 
the coming of our Lord to the earth; he manifested himself 
through the natural world, through the history of his chosen 
people, through the law and through the prophets. Of 
these earlier revelations the opening of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews speaks when it tells us that God spoke to men in 
old times by the prophets by divers portions (that is, piece 
by piece or fragmentarily) and in many various ways. But 
there was a higher way in which God could make himself 
more fully known. Just as we know a person best when 
we see him face to face, so God is best known by the coming 
of his Son to dwell among men. See pages 23, 24. Ac- 
cordingly the Epistle goes on to say that in the last days, 
that is, in the age when it was written, and as the climax 

70 



GOD THE SON 71 

of all the revelations that had gone before, God spoke to 
men by his Son. Our Lord is the final and perfect revela- 
tion of the Father.* As illustrating this, point out that the 
second paragraph of the creeds is much longer than the 
others. This presents to the eye the fact that the full 
knowledge of God is given through the coming of our 
Lord; that is, the great facts of our Lord's life, which 
occupy so large a space in the creeds, manifest the nature 
of the Son of God, and consequently reveal the Father. 

That we may be sure our Lord has truly and perfectly 
revealed God the Father to us, we need to be sure that he 
himself is truly God; and this our Bible lesson expounds. 
The Son is "heir of all things," we are told. A man is his 
father's heir when his father leaves him the control of his 
possessions; and our Lord is called the heir of God the Father, 
because the Father has given him all power in heaven and 
earth, and put all things in subjection under him. Cp. 
Matt, xxviii. 18, 1 Cor. xv. 27. Again we are told, God 
"made the worlds" by him. That is, the Son is the agent 
of the Father in creation, sharing in the creative work which 
is possible to God alone. Cp. John i. 3. And so in the 
Nicene Creed we say of God the Son, "by whom all things 
were made." Further we are told, he is the brightness of 
the Father's glory and the express image of his substance 
(as it should be translated rather than "person"). These 
seemingly hard words really give us two beautiful illustra- 
tions of the truth that our Lord is very God. The sun 
sends forth light, or a mass of molten iron glows brightly 
and sends out an overpowering heat. The light is not the 
same as the sun, nor is the glowing heat the same as the 
iron; but the light and the glow shining forth truly come 
from the sun or the iron, and make, known to us what the 

* The teacher should read Gore, The Creed of the Christian, sec- 
tion on " Revelation." 



72 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

nature of the thing is from which they come. They are 
distinct from the sun and the iron, but are not of a different 
nature. So our Lord is truly divine, and reveals God the 
Father to us. He has in himself the fullness of the divine 
glory, although it was veiled during his life upon earth. 
He is " God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God," 
possessing from all eternity the divine nature of the Father, 
though a distinct Person. The second illustration is, that a 
seal makes upon wax an exact impression of itself, so that 
in every particular the impression corresponds to the origi- 
nal pattern. And so the phrase "the express image of his 
substance" tells us that our Lord is as truly and fully divine 
as God the Father, "of one substance with the Father." 

The latter part of our Bible lesson sets forth the superiority 
of our Lord even to the angels, the most perfect and glorious 
of all created beings. The Son is contrasted with the angels 
in that he is begotten, whereas the angels are created, just 
as the things we see and we ourselves are created. The 
Father has said to none of the angels, "Thou art my Son, 
this day have I begotten thee." But our Lord is "begotten, 
not made." He is contrasted with the angels, again, in that 
he is worshiped by them, who will themselves receive 
worship from no one, and will worship God only. Cp. 
Rev. xix. 10, xxii. 8, 9. And he is contrasted with them, 
finally, in that they are God's ministers, made by him; but 
the Son rules from everlasting to everlasting. In the begin- 
ning he made heaven and earth, and when all things pass 
away he shall endure unchanged. He is "begotten of his 
Father before all worlds," and abides forever. Thus the 
teaching of the Creed that Jesus Christ, our one Lord, is 
the only Son of God, is the teaching of the Bible. The 
Saviour whom our loving Father sent into the world, in order 
that whosoever believes in him should have eternal life, is 
the only-begotten Son of God. We can therefore be sure 



GOD THE SON 73 

that he reveals God perfectly, and that he is the one Re- 
deemer of all mankind. 

Many revelations were given in old times through the 
prophets, but the final revelation is given by the Son 
of God. 

Our Lord is the Son of God; for he is the heir of all things, 
he made the worlds, and he is the brightness of the 
Father's glory and the express image of his substance. 

He is superior even to the angels; for they are created, but 
he is begotten; he is worshiped by them; he has ex- 
isted from all eternity, and abides forever. 

The next lesson is the old and beautiful story of the way 
in which our Lord came to earth. To tell the story of the 
Annunciation and of the first Christmas-day will be a pleasure 
to the children, and a little reflection will show that our Lord 
is therein revealed both as the Son of God and as truly 
human. (The text is given in the words of the Marginal 
Readings Bible.) 

LESSON 11 

CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY GHOST, BORN OF THE 
VIRGIN MARY 

Review. Our Lord before ever he came to earth was the 
everlasting Son of the Father. He made the worlds, he is 
the brightness of the Father's glory and the impress of his 
substance; and whereas even the angels are creatures, he 
is the only-begotten Son. 

Text, Gal. iv. 4. Bible lessons, St. Luke i. 26 to 39 — 
Gospel for the Annunciation; and St. Luke ii. 1 to 15 — second 
Gospel for Christmas-day. 

When God sent his Son that we might have eternal life, 



74 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

how did he come to our earth? The people of Israel, who 
hoped and expected that a Saviour would be sent to them, 
looked for a powerful and glorious king, who would vanquish 
their enemies. Cp. Isa. ix. 6, 7. Their history told them 
that God had appeared to their forefathers as a terrible 
and majestic God, whose glory no man could approach and 
live. See Exod. iii. 2 to 7, xix. 10 to 20. They could have 
imagined that he would again show mighty and dreadful 
signs of his glorious power, or that he would speak to men 
with a great voice from heaven. But supposing he had 
chosen such ways of making himself known and of telling 
us what he would have us do, it would have been impossible 
for us to understand such a message from on high about 
the eternal nature of God, and hard to see the meaning of 
his commands. He chose another and far more loving 
way; he sent his Son to show us his nature as our Father, 
and sent him not in glory and power, but as the Babe of 
Bethlehem, who would teach us by human acts and words. 
Such a message we can understand, though we can never 
exhaust its meaning; and it comes home to our hearts. The 
mighty God, who is Spirit and is utterly beyond our sight 
and understanding, can be known and loved because "Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh." — 1 John iv. 2. 

The story of the Annunciation and of our Lord's birth 
should occupy the chief place in our lesson. It is necessary 
here only to suggest a few reflections. The angel Gabriel 
was sent from God to a small place, Nazareth, in Galilee, 
a remote and despised part of the country. He appeared 
to a virgin, Mary, who was betrothed, but not yet married, 
to a carpenter named Joseph. They both were descendants 
of King David, but were poor people in simple, humble cir- 
cumstances. We can almost see the angel coming to the 
Blessed Virgin, and hear his salutation, and then his an- 
nouncement that she should bring forth a Son, Jesus, the 



GOD THE SON 73 

Son of the Highest, who should reign over the kingdom of 
David forever. This is a wonderful promise, and she is 
indeed blessed among women, because she was chosen to be 
the one of whom the Son of God should be born. We must 
recognize how pure and holy she was, and must think of 
her with the deepest reverence; but it is wrong to worship, 
or pray to, any person, except God only. To her question 
how it should be that she should have a son, the angel 
answered, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee." We 
know something about the power of the Holy Ghost, and shall 
learn in later lessons how he came upon Christ in the form 
of a dove when he was baptized, and gave him strength for 
his work, and how he came upon the disciples at Pentecost 
as a flame, and gave them power to teach people of all lan- 
guages. So also he came and overshadowed the Blessed 
Virgin before our Lord was born, and through his power 
our Lord was made man. Thus Jesus was the Son of the 
Highest both as God and as man. And Mary said, "Be 
it unto me according to thy word," by this free acceptance 
of God's will making it possible that our Saviour should 
enter into the world. The Magnificat, her song of praise, 
so frequently used in Evening Prayer, continually reminds 
us of the Incarnation. 

The birth of Christ was to be in Bethlehem, as Micah v. 2 
had foretold. This was a little village six miles south of 
Jerusalem, and Joseph and his betrothed went there from 
Nazareth, because of the Emperor's decree that everyone 
must be enrolled on the tax-lists. The familiar incidents 
that there was no room for them in the inn, they took shelter 
in a stable, the new-born Babe was laid in a manger, his 
birth was announced not to the rich men and rulers in Je- 
rusalem, but to the poor, hard-working shepherds out in the 
fields, all bring before us the self-abnegation of our Lord in 
coming from heaven to a lowly birth in this world. That 



76 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

our Lord was as truly a human child as any other ever born 
is plain from all that is told us of his birth, and is enforced 
for us by the simplicity and poverty of his coming. That 
he is as truly the Son of God is evident from his being con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin according 
to the angel's announcement, and from the angel's message 
to the shepherds and the praises of the heavenly host. He 
was, then, perfect God before he came to earth, and he be- 
came perfectly Man. He, the Son of God, "for us men and 
for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate 
by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man." 
Because of his love and pity for us he was born as a real 
child and grew to be a real man; he took upon him our 
complete nature, body, mind, feeling, will. Thus he came 
in such a way that we can understand his revelation of the 
Father, because we can learn through his life of love that 
God is love; and in such a way that he showed us not by 
precept alone but by example how we ought to live. And so 
the great method by which God chose to reveal himself 
was that, when the right moment in the world's history had 
come, he sent forth his Son, born under all the conditions 
of our human nature, and born to give us an example of 
obedience to God's law. 

Because God sent his Son as the Babe of Bethlehem, we can 

understand his message and love him. 
The story of the Annunciation shows us that our Lord is 

the Son of the Highest, and was born by the power of 

the Holy Ghost. 
The story of his birth shows the humility in which he was 

born for us and the divine glory that is his by right. 

The next lesson in taking up the notable passage Phil. ii. 
5 to 12 necessarily enters upon ground less easy than the 
Gospel stories; but the main thought is the simple and 



GOD THE SON 77 

moving one that Jesus is the human name of the Son of God, 
our Saviour. The questions of the Outline are not difficult, 
if it is observed that they contain the important words of 
the verses to which they refer. 

LESSON 12 
THE NAME JESUS 

Review. The Son of God came down from heaven and 
was born of the Virgin Mary as the Holy Child of Bethlehem. 

Text, St. Matt. i. 21. Bible lesson, Phil. ii. 5 to 12 — 
Epistle for the Sunday next before Easter. 

The name Jesus is the human name of God the Son; it 
reminds us that he saves us from our sins by becoming man. 
When the holy child was born, he had to receive a name, 
just as all children do, since he was truly a human baby. 
With us a boy receives his name, as John or William, at his 
Baptism; among the Jews a boy's name was given at his 
circumcision, and our Lord received his human name in the 
way that God's ancient law required. — Luke ii. 21, last 
verse of Gospel for the Circumcision. Our Lord gave us in 
this an example of humility and obedience, and began even 
as a baby to share in all our human experience. The name 
was one of those in common use at the time, just as Simon or 
John was. — Acts xiii. 6, Col. iv. 11. But it was also a name 
specially appointed and full of meaning. The angel who 
announced his birth to the Virgin Mary said to her, "Thou 
shalt call his name Jesus," as we saw in our last lesson. 
And the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream before the 
birth of the Child gave him the same command. See our 
text, and the Gospel for the Sunday after Christmas-day, 
from which it is taken. The name has the meaning, "God 
his Saviour," and it is another form of "Joshua," the name 



7 8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

of the heroic leader who brought God's people into the 
promised land and defeated their enemies. (The form 
" Jesus" is used for Joshua in Acts vii. 45 and Heb. iv. 8 in 
the King James Version.) The meaning, then, of this 
divinely appointed name makes it appropriate for the Saviour 
who vanquished sin and death, and who leads his people 
into the kingdom of heaven. 

Why the human name of our Lord is so worthy of rever- 
ence as it is, appears more fully from our Bible lesson. 
There St. Paul tells us that Christ Jesus, being originally in 
the form of God, did not think his equality with God some- 
thing to be eagerly held. (More literally, did not think 
it booty, that is, something that needs to be clutched jeal- 
ously.) But he took upon himself our human nature, which 
is called "the form of a servant," because by entering into 
human life our Lord left his Father's glory and submitted 
himself to the lowly conditions of this world. Note that 
"form" does not mean the mere appearance either of divin- 
ity or of humanity, but denotes that, just as truly as Jesus 
Christ was man here upon earth, he was God before he 
entered into our world. It is hardly necessary to add that 
he was truly God in his deepest humility, and that we must 
be careful not to give our pupils the idea that by coming to 
earth he ceased to be God. The apostle goes on to say that 
our Lord still further humbled himself after he became 
man, even to the death of the Cross. Not only did he take 
upon him our human lot, but he submitted to the hardest 
life of suffering and the most shameful death. And then, 
because he humbled himself, God exalted him by his resur- 
rection and ascension. Thereby his human nature was raised 
to the highest glory; for it is as Man that our divine Saviour 
rose, ascended, rules over heaven and earth, and will come 
to judge the world. That his name "is above every name" 
may be illustrated from the works done " in the name of 



GOD THE SON yg 

Jesus Christ," and from his promise that prayer so made 
shall be answered. See Acts iii. 6, 16, iv. 10 to 13, xvi. 18; 
John xiv. 12, 13. Our Lord's human name, then, is mightily 
exalted, because he humbled himself to become man and to 
suffer for our salvation. "Let this mind be in you, which 
was also in Christ Jesus," is the lesson that St. Paul would 
have us draw. 

This name, then, denoting Saviour, given because he 
should "save his people from their sins," the human name 
that is glorified because of our Saviour's self-abasement, 
calls forth our reverence and love toward him. It tells us 
continually that our salvation was wrought by our Saviour 
becoming man. Cp. 1 Tim. i. 15. His teaching and 
example, his death for our sins, his resurrection by which 
we have new life, all are made possible by his having taken 
our human nature upon him. The Son of God is our 
Saviour, and he saves us by becoming Man. Cp. Hymn 
149. Whenever, then, we hear or use the name Jesus, it 
should be with careful reverence, and with the recollection 
that he saves us from our sins. "There is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." 
— Acts iv. 12. And our tongues ought to "confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord." We do confess him in the Creeds as " Jesus 
Christ our Lord" or "one Lord Jesus Christ." Our living 
as becomes those who have been brought by his Incarnation 
into the way of salvation ought to show that this confession 
is sincere. 

The Babe of Bethlehem received a human name like other 
children, but a name that was appointed for him and 
was of deep meaning. 

This human name of God the Son is honored above every 
name, because he is exalted as man in consequence of 
his humbling himself to become man and to suffer. 



80 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

His name Jesus reminds us that he saves us from our sins, 
and that we should confess him as our Lord. 

The next lesson is based on the Gospel story of the wise 
men, and the questions are not difficult. The main thought 
is the meaning of the title Christ, denoting our anointed 
Prophet, Priest and King. 

LESSON 13 
THE TITLE CHRIST 

Review. — The name Jesus reminds us that our Lord, the 
Son of God, humbled himself to become man and to die 
upon the Cross, that he might be our Saviour. 

Text, St. John i. 41. Bible lesson, St. Matt. ii. 1 to 13 — 
Gospel for the Epiphany. 

As Jesus is the human name of our Lord, so Christ is his 
official title describing the work that he came to do. He 
is called Jesus the Christ, just as we speak of Elisha the 
Prophet, Aaron the High Priest, David the King, or St. 
John the Baptist. The word Christ, like the corresponding 
Hebrew word Messiah, means the anointed. Now anointing, 
that is, pouring sacred oil upon the head, was the mode of 
setting a man apart as a prophet, a priest or a king. It 
signified that the man was chosen by Almighty God for the 
office, and was given special grace for his work. Illustra- 
tions: Elisha (1 Kings xix. 16); Aaron and his sons (Exod. 
xl. 12 to 17); David (1 Sam. xvi. 1 to 14). A prophet was a 
man sent by God to teach men his will. A priest was one 
who offered sacrifices for sin. These sacrifices were innocent 
animals, as lambs, which were put to death in such a way 
that their blood was shed; and men were taught by this the 
guilt of sin, and that they could not be forgiven, or reconciled 



GOD THE SON 81 

to God, except by the sacrifice of some life. A king was one 
who ruled over the people, defending them from their enemies 
and executing justice. 

The coming of the Messiah was foretold in the Old Testa- 
ment, and many indications were given in regard to his 
office and work. He should be a prophet (Deut. xviii. 15, 
cp. Acts hi. 22); a priest (Zech. vi. 13); a king (Isa. ix. 6, 7, 
Zech. ix. 9, cp. John xii. 12 to 17), And particular prophecies 
concerning him were not lacking. He should be of the family 
of David the son of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1 to 5, Jer. xxiii. 5, in 
Epistle for the Sunday next before Advent, cp. John vii. 42) 
and of the town of Bethlehem (Micah. v. 2, cp. Matt. ii. 5, 6). 
Consequently the Jews of our Lord's time expected a Messiah, 
although they looked rather for a national hero and king 
than for the Christ whom God really sent. — Luke iii. 15, 
John iv. 25, vii. 31. 

The story of the wise men should occupy the chief place in 
teaching this lesson to children, but it needs little comment 
here. The reverence of the wise men and the royal gifts 
they offered were an acknowledgment that the Infant was 
no ordinary child, but divine. Of these gifts, gold was an 
appropriate tribute to a king, frankincense was used in 
worship, and myrrh for embalming. We may therefore 
think of the incense as signifying his divinity, the myrrh, 
his sacrifice of himself, and the gold, his royal office. Cp. 
Hymn 64. And in the visit of the magi we may see a recog- 
nition, even in the infancy of Jesus, that he was the divine 
Saviour-King, foretold by the prophets and sent forth by 
God. The fact that the magi were not Jews, but came from 
the distant East, showed that the Christ was to rule over 
men of every race, and to be the Saviour of the whole world. 
Applications that may be made of the Epiphany story are 
suggested by Hymn 65. 

That the Child born at Bethlehem was truly the Christ 



82 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

is shown by his fulfilling all that had been prophesied of 
the Messiah. He was anointed, not literally with oil, but 
with the Holy Ghost. — Acts x. 38, Matt. iii. 16, 17, Luke 
iv. 18, cp. Isa. lxi. 1. He is our Prophet, because he above 
all others teaches us God's will; and this was recognized by 
those who heard him and saw his works. — John iii. 2, iv. 
19, vii. 40. He is our Priest, because he offered himself 
once for all as the Lamb of God to take away our sins, and 
he continually offers up our prayers before God, and pleads 
his one sacrifice. — John i. 29, Heb. ix. 11 to 15. He is our 
King, the sovereign master of his people, who shall come to 
rule over all in righteousness. — Luke i. 32, 33. Hence 
while he was among men those who had eyes to see rec- 
ognized that in him they had "found the Messiah." We, 
too, confess in the Creeds that he is Christ, and we try to 
acknowledge him as our Prophet, Priest and King both by 
our faith and in our lives. 

Christ is our Saviour's title, signifying his office of prophet, 

priest and king. 
The prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah who should 

accomplish this threefold work. 
The adoration of the wise men showed that the Holy Child 

was come for a divine office and work. 
Our Saviour Jesus was truly the Christ, for he fulfilled all 

that had been foretold of the Messiah. 

The next nine lessons bring before us events of our Lord's 
life not mentioned in the Creeds, from which all the events 
of his public ministry are omitted, because they are too 
many and wonderful to be recounted briefly. In our les- 
sons, however, we must study some of these incidents, be- 
cause his mighty deeds and words show so impressively 
who our Lord is, just as an ordinary man's words and 
actions show the man's character. The life, miracles and 



GOD THE SON 83 

teachings of our Saviour manifest both his divine power 
and majesty and his human sympathy and goodness. We 
begin this part of our subject with the witness that the 
Baptist bore to Christ. 



LESSON 14 
THE WITNESS OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 

Review. The title Christ reminds us that our Saviour 
Jesus was the expected Messiah, anointed with the Holy 
Ghost as our Prophet, Priest and King. 

Text, St. John i. 6, 7. Bible lesson, St. John i. 19 to 29 — 
Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Advent. 

When our Lord came to the age of about thirty, a report 
spread among the people that a prophet had appeared 
preaching the immediate coming of the Messiah. Great 
crowds went out to hear his news concerning the kingdom 
of God and the Christ whom they looked for. They found 
the prophet, whose name was John, in the wilderness of 
Judea near the mouth of the Jordan. His appearance was 
stern, his clothing rough, his food what the desert supplied. 
The people were impressed by his simplicity of life and his 
earnest message, and believed rightly that he was a prophet, 
a man who speaks thoughts that God has specially put into 
his heart. The conviction that filled him was that a great 
crisis was near at hand, a judgment to be executed by a 
personal judge, whose mission was vastly greater than his 
own. He warned the people, "the axe is laid unto the root 
of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good 
fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." — Matt. iii. 10. 
Every man therefore should repent of his own particular 
sins, whatever they were. — Luke iii. 10 to 15. As a sign 



84 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

that a man repented and pledged himself to a new life, St. 
John would baptize him in the Jordan. 

The Baptist's appearance, his message and the solemn 
sign that he used, were in themselves deeply impressive. 
But he did not allow the people to think that his mission was 
anything in itself; it was merely to point forward to One far 
greater than he, who was about to come. After a time 
reports concerning him reached the religious leaders of the 
Jews in the capital city, and they sent to inquire who he 
was, and why he taught the people and baptized. Then the 
"record" or witness that he bore to the coming Messiah 
was clear and unmistakable. It must have been a tempta- 
tion for him to claim that he was himself some great one, 
and to put himself at the head of the people, who were dis- 
posed to receive and follow him. But "he confessed and 
denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ." Then 
those who were sent to inquire asked, "Art thou Elijah?" 
For the Jews, on account of the prophecy in Mai. iv. 5, 
expected Elijah to return before the Christ appeared. St. 
John was come indeed in the spirit and power of Elijah 
(cp. Luke i. 17, vii. 26, 27, Mai. iii. 1, Matt. xvii. 10 to 14); 
but they meant by their question a bodily return of Elijah 
in person, and so St. John answered, "I am not he." Some 
of the Jews, again, thought that Jeremiah or another of the 
ancient prophets would reappear (Matt. xvi. 14). "Art 
thou that prophet?" And he answered, "No." They are 
puzzled, and demand that he tell them who he claims to 
be. He answers in the words of Isa. xl. 3 that he himself 
is nothing, he is only a voice, the herald of the Christ; his 
whole mission is to prepare for the Lord's coming. Those 
who were questioning him belonged to the party of the 
Pharisees, who were very particular about rites and religious 
ceremonies, and so they demand why he baptizes. He 
answers, he is preparing for One so much greater than him- 



GOD THE SON 85 

self, though coming later, that he is not worthy to be the slave 
who unlooses his sandals. And this great One is among 
them already, though they do not know him. See also 
Matt. iii. 11, 12. 

Not only, then, did the Baptist prophesy that One should 
come; he was inspired also to point out his mightier successor. 
Among those who came to be baptized was Jesus of Nazareth, 
and at his baptism prophetic signs were given that proclaimed 
him to be the beloved Son of God, anointed with the Holy 
Spirit. — Matt. iii. 16, 17 (quoted in lesson 44 of the Outline), 
cp. John i. 32 to 35. Accordingly the Baptist pointed him 
out to two of his own disciples, and they, following Jesus, 
were convinced that they had "found the Messiah." — John 
i. 35 to 42. Thus the Baptist bore witness to our Lord, 
and made him manifest to the people of Israel at the very 
beginning of his public ministry. See what our Lord says of 
the Baptist in Matt. xi. 9, 10, last verses of the Gospel for 
the Third Sunday in Advent. Our text speaks of him as 
"a man sent from God ... to bear witness of the Light, 
that all men through him might believe." Do we receive 
that true Light, and bear faithful witness to him? Are we 
preparing for his Second Coming? 

St. John the Baptist came preaching repentance and baptiz- 
ing. 

He declared that his mission was to make ready the way 
for One far greater than himself. 

He pointed out Jesus, when he was baptized, as the ex- 
pected Christ, being himself the last of the many pro- 
phets who were sent to announce the coming of our 
Lord. 

The next lesson takes up a subject that involves many 
deep problems, and yet contains lessons of the simplest kind. 



86 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Starting with the story of the Temptation as the Gospels 
present it, we can try to enter into its deeper meaning more 
or less completely as the class is able. The last three ques- 
tions of the Outline require some reflection, but most pupils 
will have no great difficulty with them. 

LESSON 15 
THE TEMPTATION OF OUR SAVIOUR 

Review. St. John the Baptist bore witness at the out- 
set of our Saviour's public ministry that he was the 
Christ. 

Text, Heb. iv. 15. Bible lesson, St. Matt. iv. 1 to 12 — 
Gospel for the First Sunday in Lent. 

After our Saviour's baptism his public ministry was about 
to begin, his three years of wonderful teaching and mar- 
velous works of mercy. But first he wished a quiet time for 
prayer and fasting, and he retired to a wild, lonely place. 
There he passed through a threefold temptation, that he 
might share all our human experience. First he was tempted 
to turn stones into loaves of bread. The wrong, if he had 
done so, would have been in using his miraculous powers 
to satisfy his own wants instead of trusting to the Father. 
He never used his power selfishly, just to save himself trouble 
or pain, but always for the benefit of others who were in 
serious need; he would not even save himself from death by 
asking his Father to send the angel hosts to his rescue. — 
Matt. xxvi. 53. So here he showed himself willing to live 
like any man on what God provided. This is the sense of 
his answer to this temptation, in which he quotes a text from 
the Bible (Deut. viii. 3). The meaning is, as God fed the 
Israelites on manna when bread failed, so everyone depend? 



GOD THE SON 87 

for his life not on bread only, but on the will and command 
of him who can always provide what we need. Thus our 
Saviour's first temptation, occasioned by hunger, was to 
distrust his Father and make a selfish use of his own wonder- 
ful powers. He not only cast the temptation from him, 
but showed the most perfect trust. 

When that failed, Satan tried to make our Saviour presume 
upon the Father's love and care by throwing himself down 
from the high roof or gable of the Temple; and, finding that 
our Saviour reverenced his Father's word, the devil quoted 
Scripture for his purpose (Ps. 91: 11). This was a tempta- 
tion to pride and presumptuous daring. But our Saviour 
would not make experiments upon his Father's love, run into 
useless danger, and ask for an unnecessary miracle. He 
would not take any such way of startling the people and 
impressing upon them his right to leadership. He mani- 
fested himself instead by his patient life of service. He 
answered again from the Scriptures (Deut. vi. 16); a man 
must not tempt God, and presumptuously try whether God 
will intervene and protect him against dangers of his own 
making. 

Then Satan offered our Saviour all the kingdoms of the 
world if he would worship him. Our Lord has the right to 
rule over all men, and is the King of kings; Satan offered 
to give him at once what is his by right, without the life of 
suffering and the death of the Cross. He could have begun 
at once to use this power in setting wrong right and putting 
an end to misery and injustice. But he would have had to 
acknowledge Satan as Lord, and give him the worship that 
is due to God alone; he would have had to aim at being such 
a Messiah as many of the Jews looked for, a conqueror 
whose kingdom would be of this world, sustained by force 
and war. Thus the temptation was to do evil that good 
might come. And our Saviour would not do evil in order 



88 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

to spare himself or even to help others. He answered, 
"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve." Cp. Deut. vi. 13, x. 20. Then the devil left 
him, beaten at every point. 

These three temptations are typical of our Saviour's whole 
life. He was often weary, hungry, without a place to lay his 
head, and yet might in a moment have had everything he 
could wish, if he had used his power for himself. He might 
at any time have relaxed his constant labors for men and 
trusted that everything would somehow come out right. Or 
he might have allowed himself to be made king (cp. John 
vi. 15, xviii. 36), or have trimmed his teaching to suit men, 
or used other false and wrong means to accomplish his great 
work. And so he knows what it is to feel hunger and weari- 
ness, and to feel that pleasure or the satisfaction of pride 
and ambition would be attractive. But he never entertained 
any evil thoughts, or let the perception that pleasure or in- 
dolence or ambition would be attractive grow into a desire 
to sin. He could say to his enemies who were eager to find 
some fault in him, "Which of you convicts me of sin?" — 
John viii. 46, first verse of Gospel for the Fifth Sunday in 
Lent. Cp. Heb. vii. 26, 1 Pet. i. 19, ii. 22. No one but our 
Saviour could rightly claim to be sinless; see what St. Peter, 
St. John and St. Paul say about the sinfulness of all men 
(Luke v. 8, 1 John i. 8, 10, 1 Tim. i. 15). But he is perfect. 
Since, then, " he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
without sin," he is truly man, able to understand our trials 
and temptations, and yet is without spot of sin and fit to be 
the one perfect example and the one perfect sacrifice. — Heb. 
ii. 17, 18. And so he is our Saviour, who, being complete- 
ly man, can sympathize with us, being perfect man, could 
take away our sins, and, being the Son of God, has endless 
power to help us. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the 
throne of grace." — Heb. iv. 16. 



GOD THE SON 89 

Our Saviour was tempted to distrust his Father and use 
his miraculous power for selfish purposes. 

He was tempted to presume on God's love and perform an 
unnecessary, startling wonder. 

He was tempted to deny his Father and seek a kingdom of 
earthly glory founded on force. 

These temptations were typical of his whole life, but he was 
always without sin. 

That he could be tempted shows him to be truly man, able 
to sympathize with us; that he did no sin shows him to 
be perfect man and truly the Son of God, able to help 
to the uttermost those who come to him. 

The next lesson is easy for the pupils, provided a few hints 
are given about answering the latter part of the question in 
the Outline. In this lesson as in others which contain sev- 
eral references lettered a, b, etc., the home work may be 
divided among the pupils (see page 12). If lessons 16 and 
17 are combined, a selection of references should be made. 

LESSON 16 
MIRACLES OF CHRIST; HIS POWER OVER NATURE 

Review. The temptation of our Saviour shows that he 
is completely man, able to sympathize with us, perfect man, 
able to take away our sins, and the Son of God, able to help 
us. 

Text j St. John v. 36. Bible lessons: (a) St. John ii. 1 to 
12 — Gospel for the Second Sunday after Epiphany; (b) St. 
Luke v. 1 to 12 — Gospel for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity; 
(c) St. Matt. viii. 23 to 28 — first part of the Gospel for the 
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany; (d) St. Mark viii. 1 to 10 — 
Gospel for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 

The miracles of Christ have a prominent place in the 



Oo BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Gospel history, and are closely connected with his teachings 
and with the course that the events of his life took. It is 
evident that they were an important factor in determining 
what people thought of him, and in arousing belief in those 
who became his disciples. They must be taken into account 
if we would understand as fully as we can who he is. We 
cannot in teaching children go into many questions that rise 
in older people's minds; but we can present the recorded 
facts, point out their effect in leading those who witnessed 
them to believe, and indicate the conclusions which, we are 
convinced, may rightly be drawn from them. 

The stories of the miracles selected should have the 
chief place in teaching each of these lessons. Here, how- 
ever, it is enough to suggest explanations of certain details. 

(a) "Woman" was a form of address not disrespectful or 
lacking in kindness. " The governor of the feast" was one 
of the guests, chosen according to custom to preside. 

(b) " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord," 
shows the contrast St. Peter felt between Christ's power and 
his own weakness, though he was a skilled fisherman, and 
the unworthiness he was conscious of in the presence of this 
wonderful person. "Thou shalt catch men" refers to his 
future work as an apostle in bringing men into the ship of 
Christ's Church, (c) Our Lord "was asleep" through 
weariness from teaching and healing the multitudes. "The 
sea of Galilee" was another name for the lake of Genne- 
saret; it is a lake about thirteen miles long, lying among 
the hills, where sudden storms are not uncommon, 
(d) Bread with a few small fish for a relish was the common 
food of the poorer people. At another time under some- 
what different circumstances our Lord fed another mul- 
titude of 5,000. — John vi. 5 to 15, Gospel for the Sunday 
next before Advent. These are only some hints in regard 
to certain details about these miracles. The stories of these 



GOD THE SON 91 

wonderful events, however, should be the chief feature of 
the lesson, and as far as possible they should be told by 
the children. 

The effect that these miracles had on the minds of the 
people who saw them should be emphasized. " His disciples 
believed on him," in consequence of the miracle at Cana. 
St. Peter's action and words when he saw the draught of 
fishes show his astonishment and awe, which were shared 
by all that were with him. And their feeling was not idle, 
gaping wonder, but the beginning of faith; for as soon as 
they " brought their boats to land, they forsook all and 
followed him." When our Lord stilled the storm, "the 
men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that 
even the winds and the sea obey him ! " Naturally they were 
astonished, for it is idle for any man to speak to the wind 
and the sea, as King Canute is said to have proved. But 
notice that their thoughts turned to the question, What 
manner of person is this? For the miracles are of impor- 
tance above all because they teach us who Christ is. The 
feeding of the multitude shows that our Lord possesses a 
divine creative power, like that of the Father, who gives to all 
the food they need, as we saw in lessons 4 and 8. The effect 
in general that Christ's miracles had upon the people is seen 
from John ii. 23, iii. 2 and vii. 31. 

Our Lord appeals to his works as bearing witness to him 
even more powerfully than the witness of St. John the Bap- 
tist, as our text shows; see also John x. 25, 37, 38, xiv. 11 and 
xv. 24. He also warns men against regarding them as mere 
wonders without penetrating to their true significance and 
learning from them to believe in him. — John iv. 48, vi. 26, 
Matt. xii. 38 to 41. His apostles likewise appealed to his 
great works. — Acts ii. 22, x. 38, John xx. 30, 31. And some 
of the miracles are chosen for the Gospels for the season of 
Epiphany, because the Church recognizes that they manifest 



92 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

his divine glory. At the end of our next lesson we will 
consider more fully what we mean by a miracle. We may 
for the present use the simple definition, a miracle is a won- 
derful work done by the power of God to show forth his 
nature. 

Our Lord's miracles had a very prominent place in his 

ministry, and must be taken into account if we would 

understand who he is. 
He showed power over nature: (a) by changing water into 

wine, (b) by bringing to pass the great draught of fishes, 

(c) by stilling the storm, (d) by feeding the multitude. 
These mighty works made a strong impression upon the 

people who saw them, and many were convinced of the 

wonderful character of the worker. 
Our Lord and his apostles appeal to his works as manifesting 

who he is. 

The next lesson brings before us first our Lord's own 
summary of his mighty works, and then three instances of 
them. 

LESSON 17 

MIRACLES OF CHRIST; HIS POWER OF HEALING 

Review. Our Lord's miracles convinced many who saw 
them of his wonderful character, and both he and his apostles 
appeal to them as manifesting who he is. 

Text, St. John ii. 23. Bible lessons: (a) St. Matt. xi. 2 to 7 
— first part of Gospel for the Third Sunday in Advent; 
(b) St. Matt. viii. 1 to 4 — first part of the Gospel for the 
Third Sunday after Epiphany; (c) St. Mark vii. 31 to end — 
Gospel for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity; (d) St. Luke 
xviii. 35 to end — last part of Gospel for Quinquagesima. 



GOD THE SON 93 

St. John the Baptist had been put in prison because he 
courageously rebuked wicked King Herod for his sins. — Matt, 
xiv. 3. In his trouble he was perplexed because our Lord 
did not fully show his power and publicly establish a kingdom. 
He did not, however, doubt our Lord, but laid his perplexity 
before him, relying on his word. The answer given him 
was more impressive than a direct reply. Our Lord did 
many great and merciful works of healing, which he told the 
disciples to report to St. John, and referred to the ancient 
prophecies that the Messiah would do these works. Cp. Isa. 
lxi. 1, xxxv. 5, 6. The last of the signs there mentioned, that 
the poor should "have the good tidings preached to them" 
was something very unusual before our Lord came to show 
his love for all. 

(a) The Gospels tell the story of many cures wrought by 
Christ, and mention that there were great numbers besides. 
We select a few instances of his power and love, (b) First, 
the leper. Leprosy is a terrible, incurable disease. The kind 
spoken of in the Bible begins internally, appears as a white 
spot in the skin, and spreads over the whole body. The 
leper had to live outside the towns apart from all well men, 
and must cry " unclean" when anyone approached, so that 
no one should come near him. Leprosy was sometimes a 
punishment for sin; and it is a type of sin, in that it begins 
secretly, spreads over the whole person, and is incurable by 
man. Our Lord had the power to cure even this dread 
disease, and to cure it "immediately." His love and pity 
did not shrink from its loathsomeness; "he put forth his hand 
and touched" the leper. As always, faith was required of 
the person who was to be healed and an outward expression 
of faith. (The narrative continues with the healing of the 
centurion's servant, who was paralyzed, and this may be 
included in the lesson, although the sayings of the centurion 
and our Lord are difficult for younger scholars.) (c) Our 



94 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



second instance is the healing of the man who was deaf and 
dumb. Christ touched the man's ears and tongue, partly be- 
cause of his deafness, perhaps; but it was our Lord's custom to 
show what he was doing for a sick person by some outward 
act or spoken word, and we may think of this sign of touch- 
ing the ears and tongue as an illustration of the principle that 
the works he did were outward signs of what he was. He 
"looked up to heaven" in prayer to his Father; "he sighed" 
in compassion, probably. "Ephphatha" is a word of Ara- 
maic, the more common language of the country. Notice 
the impression produced upon those who saw the miracle. 
(d) Our last instance is the healing of the blind son of 
Timaeus. Cp. Mark x. 46. Observe that the people told him 
" Jesus of Nazareth " was passing by, using the human name 
of our Lord, and that he calls to him by the title "Son of 
David," acknowledging him thus as the Christ, who is able 
to help him, and begs him to "have mercy," recognizing his 
compassion. Note, too, his resolution in trying to come to our 
Lord. Christ asked, " What wilt thou?" not because he did 
not know, but because he would have Bartimaeus express his 
faith still more plainly. Then he said: "Receive thy sight, 
thy faith hath made thee whole." Notice that Bartimaeus 
"followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when 
they saw it, gave praise unto God." These few comments 
are only suggestions as to some points in these miracles. 
The stories in full should be the central feature of the 
lesson. 

In explaining what a miracle is, and how it teaches us 
about our Lord, let us first emphasize the fact that his miracles 
show forth his love no less than his power. Cp. Hymn 14. 
As we saw in studying the Temptation, he would never work 
a miracle for his own benefit, or to display what he could do; 
as we can see in every instance, he always used his wonderful 
power because some one was in great need of help and came 



GOD THE SON 9 5 

to him with faith that he could heal. When we stop to 
think of it, we see that it is as natural for our Lord to heal, 
as much a part of his character and nature, as it is for a 
doctor to bring out his medicines or for a benevolent man 
to open his pocketbook when poverty or sickness is in 
need of relief. His whole life is marked by the most 
wonderful, self -forgetful love. The miracles are but special 
instances of this, and fit in most consistently with his whole 
character. 

This thought leads us to notice by what names the Bible 
speaks of miracles. They are called " wonders," reminding 
us that they are extraordinary and mighty events, which 
naturally produce astonishment and awe in the beholder. 
But this is only their outward aspect, and the Bible does not 
use the name " wonder" by itself; it speaks of " signs and 
wonders," when that word is used. Or it calls miracles 
"signs." This indicates that they are outward tokens of 
the presence and working of God, and not mere prodigies. 
They have an inner significance, and should produce in us 
not so much amazement as faith, and the more so as they are 
always merciful works of love. The miracles of our Lord 
are also called his " works," because they are as natural to 
him, in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead," as 
ordinary works are to the man who does them. And so we 
are to think of our Lord's miracles not merely as strange 
and extraordinary events which prove in some incompre- 
hensible way that what he says is true, but as works which 
show what manner of person he is, and as signs of his divine 
power and love. As our text suggests, his signs should 
arouse in us firmer belief in his name. 

When the Baptist sent to ask Jesus for an assurance that he 
was the Christ, our Lord pointed to his miracles, espe- 
cially his works of healing. 



9 6 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



Our Lord healed, besides many others, the leper, the deaf 

man, and blind Bartimseus. 
His miracles show forth not only his power but his love. 
They are not wonders merely, but works and signs. 

The next lesson makes use of one important passage that 
is not in the Prayer Book. This can be assigned to pupils 
who have Bibles of their own. 

LESSON 18 
MIRACLES OF CHRIST; RAISING THE DEAD 

Review. Our Lord pointed to his miracles, especially 
those of healing, as proving that he was the Messiah. They 
show forth his love no less than his power, and are not 
wonders merely, but works and signs. 

Text, St. John v. 21. Bible lessons: (a) St. Luke vii. 11 
to 18 — Gospel for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity; 
(b) St. Matt. ix. 18 to 27 — Gospel for the Twenty-fourth 
Sunday after Trinity; (c) St. John xi. 1 to 46 (not in the 
Prayer Book). 

The mightiest of our Lord's works, raising the dead, he 
wrought only three times, showing in this the restraint in 
the use of his power that appears in all his acts. The full 
story of these miracles should be the basis of the lesson, 
although here, as before, only some details need be spoken of. 
(a) He raised the widow's son at Nain. This town stands 
on a ridge, and a steep road leads up from the plain with 
rocks beside it full of caves for burying the dead. On this 
road two processions met, the dead man with the funeral 
party and the Prince of Life followed by his disciples. There 
was reason for our Lord's using his power, since the dead 
man was "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." 



GOD THE SON 



97 



His divine compassion was aroused, and it showed itself in 
his pausing before raising her son to speak a word of com- 
fort to her. He touched the bier to make the bearers stop. 
He spoke a brief and direct word to the dead, which proves 
that he acted in his own name, "Young man, I say unto 
thee, Arise." And when the young man at once came back 
to life, Jesus showed again his loving compassion; "he 
delivered him to his mother." Notice the impression made 
upon the people present and the widespread fame of the work. 
Observe, too, that the conclusion they drew was as to the 
manner of person that he was; although they did not under- 
stand all they might, they saw that he was at least a great 
prophet, such as Elijah or Elisha (cp. i Kings xvii. 17 to 24, 
2 Kings xiii. 21), and that the miracle showed the power of 
God to be operative. In raising the dead to life by his own 
word, Christ proved that he shared in the life-producing 
power which belongs to the Creator alone. 

(b) The second person whom our Lord brought back to 
life was the little daughter of Jaiirus. (See Luke viii. 41 ff. 
for some details not given by St. Matthew. The two ac- 
counts seem at first sight to differ in regard to the time of the 
little girl's death; but a closer comparison suggests their 
full agreement. For, as her father left her "at the point of 
death," he naturally said, when he found Christ, "My 
daughter is even now dead." Then, while our Lord paused 
to heal the woman, there came some from Jalrus' house to 
say that his daughter had died after he had set forth.) When 
Christ came to the house he found the confusion and noise 
usual in the East, the hired flute-players and mourners, and 
the friends and neighbors making loud lamentations. He 
bade them make way for him, "for the little girl is not dead, 
but sleeps." And they laughed at him, "knowing that she 
was dead." He meant by the word "sleep," as again when 
Lazarus was dead, to teach that through him death is not 



9 8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

the end, but has its waking. His command that something 
be given her to eat is an instance of his thoughtful consid- 
eration. 

(c) The raising of Lazarus after he had lain in the grave 
four days is the most wonderful of our Lord's mighty works. 
In teaching, verses 5 to 17 may be omitted. Verse 4 does not 
mean, of course, that Lazarus was not to die, but that 
through Christ's power he should be raised. In verses 25, 
26, Jesus teaches in express words that he is the resurrec- 
tion and the life, which the miracle manifests in act. In 
verse 27, Martha confesses her faith in him as "the Christ, 
the Son of God, even he that cometh into the world." 
Verse 32 shows Mary's faith in his power and love. 
"Jesus wept," the shortest verse in the Bible, reveals the 
completeness of our Lord's human nature and his perfect 
sympathy. Verse 45 shows the effect of the miracle in 
arousing the people to belief. We should not fail to note 
that all these miracles manifest our Lord's divine com- 
passion, since he raised those who were much loved, not 
the rich and powerful. 

Miracles, as is often said, are parables in action. Great 
as our Lord's works are in themselves, they are significant 
of something further, his continual power for good and his 
endless love toward all men. Just as the story in a parable 
points to a truth of which it is the likeness, so the miraculous 
events in our Lord's life are manifestations of his divine 
activity in all ages of the world. Thus his healing the blind, 
deaf, sick, lame, points forward to all that his followers 
have done in caring for the sick and helpless, and carrying 
on all the merciful works that are due to his influence. This 
aspect of his miracles is especially to be thought of in con- 
nection with his raising the dead to life. Therein he points 
forward to the vast work that he wrought through his death 
and resurrection, bringing life and immortality to light, and 






GOD THE SON 



99 



winning for all who believe in and serve him the new life 
that is not touched by death. Thus we should think of these 
greatest works of his as showing forth the divine power that 
is his own, given to him by the Father. Cp. John v. 24 to 27. 
And this is the teaching of our text. Our Lord's works, 
then, are not to us remote and strange events, but signs that 
the almighty and loving Son of God gives health and life to 
all who have faith in him. 

Our Lord raised from the dead the widow's son of Nain. 
He raised the little daughter of Jairus. 
He raised Lazarus after he had lain four days in the grave. 
These mightiest of his works show that he possesses as his 
own the divine power of giving life. 

The next lesson should, as usual, be sketched in advance 
sufficiently to show its general aim and the direct connection 
of the first four questions of the Outline with the Bible lesson. 



LESSON 19 
CHRIST THE DIVINE TEACHER 

Review. Our Lord's mighty works are signs of his divine 
power and love, and make him manifest as the Christ, the 
Son of God. 

Text, St. John vii. 46. Bible lesson, St. Matt. xxii. 34 
to end — Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. 

Just before the incident related in our Bible lesson occurred, 
the Master confuted some of the learned Pharisees when they 
tried to entrap him with their question about tribute; so 
that "they marveled and left him, and went their way." — 
^Jatt. xxii. 15 to 23, Gospel for the Twenty-third Sunday 

L0« 



IO o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

after Trinity.* And he put the Sadducees to silence when 
they tried to entangle him with their questions about the res- 
urrection; so that "the multitudes were astonished at his 
teaching" (verses 23 to 34). Then the Pharisees consulted 
together. And one who was skilled in the Old Testament 
law and the comments of the rabbis upon it asked him a 
question, which, the lawyer thought, would involve him in 
a serious difficulty. There are many commands in the 
Scriptures both about the worship of God and about a man's 
dealings with other men; and the lawyer thought the Master 
would commit himself to the statement that some one in 
particular, perhaps one of the Ten Commandments, is the 
greatest. This would give his enemies a pretext to speak 
against him, and assert that he disparaged other parts of the 
ancient revelation. But he seized upon the principle of love 
towards God and man as the essence of all goodness. He 
quoted two verses of the Old Testament (Deut. vi. 5, Levit. 
xix. 18), and declared that the whole moral teaching of the 
Old Testament is summed up in them. By fixing upon these 
two commands the Master not only disarmed his enemies, 
but also set forth positively the inmost principle of right 
living. For if we love from the heart we will not sin against 
God or man, but will keep the whole law of God. Cp. Rom. 
xiii. 8 to 11, first part of Epistle for the First Sunday in 
Advent. And so our Lord's discussions with those who 
opposed him show a mastery of moral truth and a marvelous 
power in setting it forth. 

Starting with this scene in the Master's life, we can pro- 
ceed, according to the capacity of our pupils, to show the 
divine wisdom that appears in his teachings and in his 
method of imparting his thought as his hearers were able to 
grasp it. As further examples we think at once of the Ser- 

* Used for one of the Bible Lessons on Christian Duty, as are some 
other passages referred to here. 



GOD THE SON IO i 

mon on the Mount, especially the Golden Rule and the Beati- 
tudes, and of such parables as those of the Good Samaritan 
and the Unforgiving Servant. Convenient references are 
the Gospels for the Thirteenth and Twenty-second Sundays 
after Trinity and for All Saints' Day. See also Matt. vii. 
28, 29. In substance his teaching is wonderfully simple and 
at the same time profound and far-reaching. His method 
of imparting it drew multitudes to hear him, and exercises 
an attractive power as strong to-day as then. Its substance 
and method alike show him to excel immeasurably the great- 
est of men who have taught righteousness. 

After giving his answer, our Lord questioned the Pharisees 
in turn; and, though they were so learned in the Scriptures, 
they were unable to answer him. He asked: "What think 
ye of the Christ? whose son is he?" They replied readily 
enough from their knowledge of the ancient prophecies, 
"The son of David." Then the Master quoted Psalm 1 10 : 1 , 
and asked: "If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?" 
And they could not answer, neither did they dare try again 
to confuse him with hard questions. It will be apparent 
even to younger scholars that our Lord showed himself to 
possess a deeper knowledge of revealed truth than those 
learned men. But there is more in this incident than the 
fact that the Master showed himself abler and wiser than his 
opponents. The reason they could not answer was because 
they would not see the truth he came to reveal, that he was 
the Christ. They knew the prophets had foretold that One 
should come of the family of David who should be the 
Messiah, and that he should be greater far than his royal 
ancestor. By his questions the Master wished to show them 
that, since they accepted the prophecies, they must look for 
a Messiah who was more than a human descendant of King 
David, and therefore they ought not to be offended at his 
claims. They opposed him, and at last put him to death, 



202 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

because he presented himself as the Christ. Yet the truth 
that he, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ, was the key to their 
difficulty. He is the son of David, because he was born of 
the Virgin Mary, who was descended from David ; and he is 
Lord even of his royal forefather, because he is the Son of 
God. 

This incident shows that the Master is the great teacher 
of divine truth as well as of righteousness. And it is but 
an instance of the truth, which we studied in lesson 10, that 
his manifestation of himself and of the Father who sent him 
gives us the fullest possible knowledge of God. As examples 
of his method in revealing truth, we may take, if time permits, 
the parables of the Sower, the Good Shepherd and the Lost 
Sheep, given in the Gospels for Sexagesima, the Second 
Sunday after Easter, and the Third Sunday after Trinity. 
His teaching made people say, "This is the Prophet," "This 
is the Christ." — John vii. 40, 41. And even the officers 
whom his enemies sent to arrest him said, "Never man 
spake like this man." That the Master is our divine teacher 
of truth and righteousness is the thought which this lesson 
should impress. Let it be brought out at the conclusion, if 
no better can be done, but let the aim rather be to teach 
the lesson throughout in such a way that the children feel 
and express this for themselves. 

The Master answered the question of his enemies, "Which 
is the great commandment?" in such a way as to con- 
fute them and to set forth the true principle of right 
living. 

The substance and the method of his moral teaching show 
him to excel all teachers of righteousness. 

He asked his enemies the question, "What think ye of the 
Christ?" to which they could not reply, though the an- 
swer was given in his manifestation of himself. 



GOD THE SON 103 

His revelation of the Father and his method of presenting it 
show his mastery of divine truth. 

The next lesson has one rather easy question upon the 
Bible lesson, which ought, however, to be read carefully 
all through, and one question on the effect upon our Lord's 
disciples of what they saw him do and heard him say. 



LESSON 20 
THE FAITH OF OUR LORD'S DISCIPLES IN HIM 

Review. Our Lord's teaching of righteousness and his 
revelation of divine truth show, alike in their substance and 
their method, that he is the divine Teacher, our Master. 

Text, St. John xvi. 30. Bible lesson, St. Matt. xvi. 13 to 
20 — Gospel for St. Peter's Day. 

Our Lord's miracles and teaching produced a striking, if 
not a lasting, impression upon the multitudes who thronged 
to hear him and to receive the help he gave so freely and 
lovingly. Those whom he chose to go about with him 
everywhere received a still deeper impression of his marvelous 
character, and a strong, abiding faith grew up in their hearts. 
If we picture to ourselves the intimate, personal association 
with the Master that his apostles were privileged to enjoy, 
we shall understand the effect that his words and works, 
still more his whole life and character, had upon them. For, 
although he did not often declare in words who he was, he 
showed it by his life. We are aiming to teach the Creed 
through the definite, concrete, and, we might almost say, 
pictorial manifestations of his life, and in this lesson we 
would show that the apostles came to see the truth of the 
Incarnation not abstractly and speculatively but through 



io4 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



what they saw and heard of their Lord and Master. Cp. 
pages 23, 24. We desire to help the children, in a simple 
way and without much talking about it, to see how people 
who really consider our Lord's works, teachings and character 
cannot help believing in him as the Son of God. In teaching, 
then, let us keep the thought of the personal Lord Christ 
in the foreground, and the personal loyalty and faith which 
inevitably arise when he is truly known. 

The faith of our Lord's disciples in him was voiced in the 
great confession made by St. Peter on behalf of all the 
apostles. This was uttered in reply to questions by which 
the Master drew out what his disciples already knew and led 
them on to fuller truth. They had heard four opinions 
expressed; that he was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, 
some one of the other prophets. But he would have them, 
his chosen followers who had seen and heard him all through 
his ministry, say whom they believed him to be. St. Peter, 
always impetuous, spoke for all and said: "Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God." Notice the positive 
statement "Thou art," as contrasted with the previous 
"some say," and the definite assertion that the person with 
whom the apostles were speaking face to face was the Christ. 
The multitudes, even, had seen that he was some wonderful 
person, a prophet at least, but those who knew him intimately 
recognized who he really was. 

This was not the only acknowledgment of faith in Jesus 
made during his ministry. When St. Andrew first met with 
our Lord, he confessed his belief that Jesus would prove to 
be the Messiah for whom men were hoping. See the text of 
lesson 13. Later St. Peter said in the name of the twelve, 
"We have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of 
God," as St. John vi. 69 should be translated. See also Matt, 
xiv. 33. But this great confession, made after months of 
living and working with Jesus, was a solemn assertion of 



GOD THE SON 



105 



full belief in him as the Christ, the Son of God. During 
these months the apostles' knowledge of him had been 
deepened and their love for him strengthened, as his per- 
sonality had an ever-increasing influence upon their minds 
and hearts, until finally there resulted this climax of faith 
and this confession of him as their personal Lord Christ. 
Other confessions, coming still later in his ministry, are those 
of Martha in St. John xi. 27, and of his apostles in our text. 
Our Lord marks the significance of the confession made by 
St. Peter by words of warm commendation. He admits 
as solemnly as his apostles asserted, that he is the Son of 
God. "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
my Father which is in heaven"; that is, it is not an opinion 
coming from other men or a notion arising in the imagination, 
but a truth made known by God's working in the heart. 
And since this representative man personally believes in and 
confesses him, our Lord can build up the spiritual temple, 
his Church, St. Peter being the first of the many living stones 
used in the building. Cp. 1 Pet. ii. 4 to 7. Full faith in 
Jesus as the Christ, based upon personal knowledge of him 
and openly confessed, is the response man must make to his 
revelation in order that his kingdom may be established. 
With this saying of our Lord's agrees, therefore, St. Paul's 
assertion : " Other foundation can no man lay than that which 
is laid, which is Jesus Christ." — 1 Cor. iii. 11. See also 
Ephes. ii. 20 with context. The last verses of our Bible 
lesson are not essential to our present theme; but in brief 
"the keys" denote that to St. Peter as representing all the 
apostles, just as later to them all expressly (Matt, xviii. 18, 
xxviii. 19, 20, John xx. 23), authority is given to admit men 
into the Church and to declare what is required of men by 
God or forbidden. It will be evident that Roman Catholic 
claims based upon this "promise to St. Peter" are wholly 
irrelevant to the true meaning of the passage, as any good 



io 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

commentary will show in detail. Our present concern is to 
observe that we may well think of the question, "Whom 
say ye that I am?" as addressed to each of us by our Lord. 
Yielding to God's guidance, we should learn from our Lord's 
manifestation of himself to recognize him fully as "the 
Christ, the Son of the living God," and to say, '-We believe 
that thou earnest forth from God." 

The personal knowledge of Christ which his disciples gained 
from being with him led to firm faith. 

This faith is expressed in St. Peter's confession on behalf of 
all the apostles that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 

This solemn assertion of belief in their Master as their per- 
sonal Lord Christ marks a climax in the faith of the 
apostles, and is solemnly accepted and commended by 
our Lord. 

The next lesson brings before us a scene of glory in our 
Lord's earthly life. The second question in the Outline 
calls attention to the marvelous change in his appearance and 
to the divine voice bearing witness of him. 



LESSON 21 
THE TRANSFIGURATION 

Review. Those who companied with our Lord came to 
have complete faith in him as the Christ, the Son of God 
perceiving from his life who he was. 

Text, 2 St. Peter i. 17. Bible lesson, St. Luke ix. 28 to 
37 — Gospel for the Transfiguration. 

About a week after St. Peter's confession of faith there 
came a manifestation of our Lord's glory. The scene itself 



GOD THE SON 



107 



and its meaning we should aim to bring vividly before our 
pupils. While our Lord was praying upon a mountain his 
face was changed in appearance, so that it " shone like the 
sun," and his clothing became "white as the light." — Matt, 
xvii. 2. And there appeared two men in glory talking with 
him, Moses, through whom the Law was given, and Elijah, 
one of the greatest of the prophets. The three apostles who 
accompanied our Lord were borne down with sleep, but 
having waked they saw his glory and the two men that stood 
with him. St. Peter, as at other times, speaks first, though 
here "not knowing what he said." He desires to detain the 
great lawgiver and prophet when they are about to go away, 
and so proposes to make booths which might serve at least 
as temporary abiding places for them and the Master. 
While he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, filling 
them with awe and fear, because a cloud was a symbol of 
God's presence. Cp. Exod. xix. 9, 16, xxxiii. 9. Then there 
came a voice from the cloud, assuring them that Jesus is the 
beloved Son of God, and bidding them believe whatever he 
should tell them. After God the Father had thus spoken, 
"Jesus was found alone." This is a symbol of the truth 
that he is the one Saviour of us all. For the appearance of 
Moses and Elijah by the side of Jesus symbolized the Law 
and the Prophets as leading up to and being fulfilled in the 
Gospel; and their departure, leaving him alone, denoted that 
the old dispensation has passed away, leaving Jesus Christ 
as the one Mediator between God and man. These points 
we may emphasize in describing the scene. 

In bringing out its deeper meaning we may notice that 
Moses and Elijah talked with our Lord "of his decease 
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem," that is, of his 
departure from life through his passion and crucifixion. 
Of this he had been forewarning his disciples during the 
week before the transfiguration; and almost directly after 



108 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

that event "he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." 
— Luke ix. 51. His death, then, was not a fate which he 
could not escape, but a great work which he was entering 
upon of his own free will out of love to men. And so the 
transfiguration served to calm and encourage the apostles, 
who had been told of his approaching sufferings and death, 
and to strengthen their faith in him as the Christ, the Son of 
God, just when the end was looming up so darkly. That he 
thus "received from the Father honor and glory," shows 
us the majesty that belongs to him of right, and deepens our 
faith in him. And we should especially ponder this: an 
ascension into heaven from the mount of the transfiguration 
would have been such an end of his earthly life as Jesus 
deserved, since he was perfect as man, wholly free from sin, 
and unwearying in his loving work for men. Death, on the 
contrary, is the end that is fitting for the fallen race of Adam, 
and the death of the cross was appointed for the worst 
criminals. Yet instead of ascending into heaven while he 
was praying upon the mount, he remained with his disciples 
when the glory had departed, and freely faced the death 
upon Calvary that freed us all from the stain and the bondage 
of sin. If he had departed from the earth at his trans- 
figuration, he would have left mankind worse off than if he 
had never come; for he would have given us a perfect exam- 
ple, but no power to follow it. Whereas by dying, rising from 
the dead, and ascending to heaven in the body in which he 
had suffered and triumphed, he conquered sin and death, 
and won for us new life and power from on high. By choos- 
ing to depart through death instead of going alone to heaven 
he takes many with him to glory. Cp. Heb. ii. 10. 

The transfiguration shows forth the true glory of Jesus Christ 
as the Son of God, and is a symbol of the truth that he 
is our only Saviour. 



GOD THE SON 109 

It shows his approaching death to be a great work freely 
entered upon out of love toward us, that he might win 
for us new life and spiritual power. 

The next lesson brings us to the deeply important subject, 
who our Lord says he is. The passages from St. John that 
are referred to should be studied by the teacher in Westcott, 
The Gospel oj St. John; and it should be observed how our 
Lord led his hearers on step by step to understand his teach- 
ing about himself. See that the children know just where 
to find the Bible lessons. 



LESSON 22 
OUR LORD SAYS THAT HE IS THE SON OF GOD 

Review. The faith of the apostles in Jesus as the Christ, 
the Son of God, which had been aroused by his miracles 
and teachings, and solemnly confessed, was further strength- 
ened by his transfiguration. 

Text, St. Luke xx. 13. Bible lessons: St. John xiv. 1 to 
15 — Gospel for St. Philip and St. James's Day; and St. 
Mark xiv. 61 to 65 — part of Gospel for Monday before 
Easter. 

One of our Lord's parables, from which our text is taken, 
is about the lord of the vineyard and his beloved son. See 
Luke xx. 9 to 17 for the story. The first part of it represents 
God's sending one prophet after another to his people, that 
he might receive of them, to whom he had given the privileges 
of his covenant and the knowledge of his will, the fruits of 
faith and righteousness. And they rejected the prophets, 
persecuting and killing them. At last, the parable says, 
the lord of the vineyard sent his beloved son, his heir, who is 



IIO BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

contrasted strongly with the bondservants previously sent; 
and the husbandmen cast him out of the vineyard, and killed 
him. This represents the fact that God sent his only and 
beloved Son, after he had sent all the prophets; and that the 
Jewish rulers, moved with envy and desirous of maintaining 
their own authority, " crucified the Lord of glory." In this 
parable, then, our Lord teaches his unique greatness as the 
only Son of God, inasmuch as he likens himself to the 
beloved son of the lord of the vineyard, while he compares all 
the prophets to bondservants. 

Our first Bible lesson is from our Lord's parting discourse 
with his disciples just before his death. They were troubled 
at his warning that he was about to be killed, and he spoke 
words of comfort and of encouragement to faith. "Believe 
in God, believe also in me," he said, so declaring that the 
Christian ought to have faith in him no less than in God the 
Father, and plainly implying that he himself is divine. And 
then he spoke of heavenly mansions, which he would prepare, 
and into which he would receive his disciples. To have this 
hope, it is evident, they must recognize him as Lord, and 
have full faith in him. With this saying we should compare, 
moreover, the statement that he knew "he came forth from 
God and goeth to God." — John xiii. 3. See also John viii. 
42, xvi. 27 to 33. Furthermore he declared that he is "the 
way, the truth and the life," through whom alone men come 
to the Father and know the Father. The full meaning of 
these words is suggested by Hymn 425. He is the way, 
inasmuch as through him we have forgiveness and access 
to the Father, from whom sin excludes us. See Heb. x. 19, 
20, Ephes. ii. 18. He is the truth, who alone knows the 
Father and reveals him to us. See Matt. xi. 27, in Gospel for 
St. Matthias's Day. He is the life, who unites us with the 
eternal and divine life through our union with him. See 
John xv. 1 to 12, Gospel for St. Mark's Day. This declara- 



GOD THE SON m 

tion leads on again to St. Philip's request, "Show us the 
Father," and to the reply, "He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father." By this our Lord teaches that he manifests 
to us the infinite divine nature of the Father through his 
words and works. These points at least we can make plain 
to our pupils, and so enable them to see that our Lord 
deliberately and expressly states that he is the Son of God. 

We may add his sayings in St. John v. 17, 18, x. 22 to 40, 
and viii. 46 to end, Gospel for the Fifth Sunday in Lent. 
In the last we may notice especially the following points. 
He asserted that he is sinless, and this has never been true 
of any mere man. Then he continued the discussion until 
he declared, "if a man keep my saying he shall never see 
death." This, as his enemies recognized, involved a claim 
that he is far greater than Abraham and all the prophets; 
for they are dead, and so are whole generations of their 
disciples, yet his followers shall never die. Finally came his 
solemn declaration, "Before Abraham was born, I am," an 
assertion of his eternal existence as God. The Jews so under- 
stood it, and, not believing, they attempted to stone him to 
death for blasphemy. 

In our Bible lesson from St. Mark we hear our Lord, 
arrested and brought to trial before his enemies, acknowl- 
edging that he is "the Christ, the Son of the Blessed." Thus 
it was because he presented himself as the Son of God that 
he was hated by the rulers and condemned to death. His 
claim requires a response one way or the other from every- 
one who learns about him; either such rejection as he suffered 
from those who wished to stone him to death, and who caused 
him to be crucified, or else loyal acceptance and faithful 
service. 

Our Lord spoke of the prophets as God's servants, but of 
himself as God's beloved Son. 



H2 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

He told his disciples to have faith in him such as they had 
in the Father, and to recognize that through him alone 
men can come to the Father and know the Father. 

He declared himself to be sinless, the source of life, and 
eternally God. 

He was put to death at the last because he claimed to be the 
Son of God. 

REVIEW 

The next hour should be given to a review of lessons 10 to 
22 inclusive, and should aim not only to fix in the children's 
memories what they have learned, but also to make the truth 
that the Son of Gcd "for us men and for our salvation came 
down from heaven" a more living reality than ever. Bring 
out, therefore, on the one hand, those features of the Gospel 
story which show our Lord to be truly the Son of God, such 
as his mighty and loving works, his boundless wisdom, the 
faith he inspired in his followers, the assertions he made 
concerning himself; and, on the other hand, those features 
which show him to be truly man, such as his birth, his tempta- 
tion, his joy in the happiness of others, his weariness, his 
painful life, his sorrow at the grave of Lazarus. Thus 
make it clear that his life on earth manifested him to be 
truly divine and truly human, so that we rightly believe in 
him as the eternal Son of God, very God of very God, who 
"was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and 
was made man." Being perfectly God, he has boundless 
power to help us, being perfectly man, he can fully sym- 
pathize with us; and so the Incarnate Son of God is the one 
Saviour of men. 

In lesson 23 we take up a subject that is expressly spoken 
of in the Creed, the sufferings endured on our behalf by 



GOD THE SON 



"3 



our Saviour. The children should aim not only to learn as 
fully as they can the story of his sufferings, but still more 
should try to feel the love that led him to endure so much 
for us. 

LESSON 23 
SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE 

Review. Our Lord declares that he is the Son of God, 
through whom alone we truly know the Father, and that he 
is entitled to our faith and our loyal service. 

Text, 1 St. Peter iii. 18. Bible lesson, St. Mark xv. 1 to 
22 — first part of Gospel for Tuesday before Easter. 

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, had authority to put 
criminals to death. And so the enemies of our Lord, angered 
at his claim to the faith of men, but having no legal power to 
inflict death upon him themselves, brought him before Pi- 
late like a criminal, and accused him of claiming to be King 
of the Jews. Our Lord acknowledged himself to be a king, 
meaning that he was the Messiah, not that he had any 
designs against the Roman government, or aimed to rule by 
force. — John xviii. 33 to 39. Pilate saw that there was no 
ground for such a charge as the Jewish priests made, and 
tried to release him. — Luke xxiii. 1 to 26. But when he 
could not persuade the people to ask for the release of Jesus, 
he had not courage to do justice himself, fearing lest he should 
be accused to the Emperor of letting a man go who was trying 
to make himself king. And so, to protect himself and please 
the mob, he handed over an innocent man to the most cruel 
death. He let the rulers and the people have their way, and 
ordered Jesus to be scourged and crucified. 

The mention of Pilate's name in the Creed gives a mark 
of the time when our Saviour was put to death, and so helps 



ll 4 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

to impress upon us the definite actuality of all he endured for 
us, which we must try to make real to the children. The 
scourge was a whip with leather lashes loaded with lead or 
iron. It cut the flesh to the bone, so that sometimes scourg- 
ing caused death. The soldiers further tortured our Saviour 
with the crown of thorns and by their blows and spitting. 
And then they led him forth to crucify him, making him bear 
his cross until he could carry its weight no longer. Even 
so brief a recital as this of our Lord's sufferings brings their 
intensity before us, and reflection upon the narratives of the 
several Gospels ever deepens our sense that the bodily pain 
he endured was beyond all that we can imagine. 

More dreadful still was the anguish of his soul under the 
injustice of his illegal trial, the mockery of the soldiers, the 
hatred of the people he came to save, the treachery of one 
disciple, the desertion of the rest, the denial of St. Peter, 
the grief of those who loved him. Try to think, for instance, 
of the mob crying out against him, and you have a picture 
of cruel hatred that might bear down the strongest courage. 
And this, perhaps, was among the least of his mental suffer- 
ings. Greatest of all was the burden of our sins. He 
grieved for every man's sins because he knew how hateful 
they are to God; for he loved men, and knew that sin is 
their destruction. An earnest teacher will ponder very 
thoughtfully how best to present this familiar and moving 
story so as to reach the children. Their hearts will be closed 
by a certain natural shrinking, unless his sufferings are 
described reverently and with restraint; and yet we must aim 
to make the words "he suffered" have the full meaning to 
the children that the Gospel story gives. Perhaps it is not 
usually so needful to dwell upon his bodily pain as upon 
those aspects of his sufferings which require more reflection. 
However this may be, if we try to feel deeply and honestly for 
ourselves how real were the sufferings of our best and most 



GOD THE SON 



115 



loving Friend, and to meditate devoutly upon the Gospel 
story, we shall find a way to bring our theme home to those 
whom we teach. 

Above all we should endeavor to present this lesson in 
such a way as to deepen the children's love for our Saviour. 
He " suffered for sins," he who was without spot of sin for us 
who are all sinful, "that he might bring us to God." Re- 
membering this, the wickedness of our sins, the greatness 
of his love, and its power to draw us to God will be thoughts 
that grow and live in our minds, as we contemplate what our 
Saviour endured on our behalf. We should lay stress also 
on the thought that his sufferings assure us he is truly man, 
ready to sympathize with us in all our trials. The familiar 
practical lesson, too, that we should willingly bear the cross, 
should not be passed over. Cp. Matt. xvi. 24. 

Our Saviour, like a criminal, was brought before Pilate, 
who, too weak to do justice, delivered him to be scourged 
and crucified. 

Our Saviour endured most cruel tortures of body. 

He suffered the bitterest anguish of soul. 

All this was endured for our sakes and because of our sins 
by our Lord, who as the Son of man has perfect sym- 
pathy, as the Son of God has absolute power to help us. 

Note. — If the longer list of references given in the Outline 
is used, the following topics may precede the above: the 
agony in Gethsemane, the betrayal and arrest, the examina- 
tion before Annas, the trial before the Sanhedrin, St. Peter's 
denial. And the trial before Pilate and before Herod may 
be described more fully than is indicated above. 

The next lesson is very closely connected with this, and in 
preparing for it the children should again aim both to learn 



n6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

the story of the Cross and to feel the meaning to us of our 
Saviour's sufferings and death. The teacher is advised 
to read Gore, The Creed of the Christian, sections on "Sin 
and Redemption" and "The Atonement," and in Sanday 
and Headlam's Commentary on Romans, the note on "The 
Death of Christ considered as a Sacrifice," pages 91 to 94. 
The Bible passages referred to in the longer list in our 
Outline should be read without fail, and also the following: 
Mark x. 45; John x. 11, 17, 18; Matt. xxvi. 28; Rom. v. 6 to 
20; Col. i. 14, 20; and the Comfortable Words in the Com- 
munion Service. 



LESSON 24 
WAS CRUCIFIED FOR US 

Review. Our Saviour was unjustly condemned, scourged, 
mocked and beaten, betrayed, deserted, denied, and all 
because of men's sins. 

Text, Rom. v. 8. Bible lesson, St. Mark xv. 22 to 40 — 
last part of Gospel for Tuesday before Easter. 

Our Saviour's death upon the Cross is the climax of his 
toilsome life and of the sad events of Holy Week. After 
his unjust condemnation he was taken by the soldiers through 
the streets, followed by crowds and also by women who la- 
mented for him. They brought him to a place outside the 
city, called Golgotha or Calvary, meaning "the skull," either 
because it was the place of public execution or because it was 
a rounded hill. When they reached the place, they offered 
him wine mixed with myrrh, which would act as a drug 
to deaden the fearful pain of crucifixion; but he would not 
drink it, because "he had need of the full use of his human 
faculties, and the pain which was before him belonged to the 



GOD THE SON n 7 

cup which his Father's will had appointed, of which he would 
abate nothing." And they crucified him. The soldiers 
did the cruel work, but the guilt lay at the door of the Jewish 
people; and not there alone, but at the door of our sins. 
Crucifixion was an intensely painful death, the victim being 
bound and nailed to the cross to suffer for hours from wounds 
and thirst and the racking of his whole body. It was also 
the most abhorred of all punishments, because it could be 
inflicted, according to the Roman law, only upon slaves and 
the worst criminals, never upon a man who had the rights 
of a citizen; and according to the Jewish law it made the 
victim accursed. This is pictured, as we might say, by the 
fact that our Saviour was put to death between two robbers, 
and so included among desperate criminals. Yet when he 
was crucified our Lord said, " Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." 

Over his head a whited piece of wood was placed, as the 
custom was, on which was written the charge upon which he 
had been condemned. This gave him the title that was 
rightly his, but gave it in mockery. And the people who 
passed by on the highway near derided him both with 
gestures and words, and those who had brought about his 
death jeered at him, taunting him with the charges made 
against him in his trial before the Jewish authorities. 
Their mocking was the harder for him to endure because his 
own self-restraint and his resolution to complete his sacrifice 
alone forbade him to descend from the cross and overwhelm 
his enemies. Even the crucified robber reviled him. Still 
harder for him to bear was the sorrow of his disciples and the 
faithful women, and of the beloved disciple and his mother, 
who stood by the cross. And heaviest of all was the burden 
of our sins, and the awful sense of their power to separate 
men from God. His agony forced from him the loud cry, 
"My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Even this was 



n8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

scoffed at by some who heard it; though one of the bystand- 
ers, taking pity upon him, tried to relieve his thirst. 

Six hours he hung there, the last three hours, from noon 
to the time of the evening sacrifice, being hours of darkness. 
At the last, having called out with a loud voice, " Father, 
into thy hands I commend my spirit," he died. And the 
veil of the temple, hiding the Holy of Holies, was torn in two, 
signifying that the day of the Old Testament sacrifices was 
past, and complete access to the Father is now opened to all 
believers by the one perfect Sacrifice. At his death even the 
officer who had carried out the sentence was convinced that 
he was innocent and divine. This is but a part of the story 
of the Cross, but so much at least we may aim to bring out 
of our Bible lesson, using also some details from the other 
Gospels. 

To tell the full meaning of our Saviour's passion and death 
would be to tell the whole story of the Bible and of all Chris- 
tian experience; but we can try to show that it proclaims 
God's righteousness and his love toward us, our sinfulness, 
and our Saviour's redeeming sacrifice.* Let us connect each 
thought with some feature of the story of the Cross, so that the 
personal lesson may always come to mind whenever we think 
of the crucifixion. Our Saviour was publicly executed like 
a desperate criminal, exposed to the mocking of the crowd. 
He was, as it were, lifted up for the whole world to see. 
This should signify to us that God's righteousness and 
love were openly placarded before all men. Our righteous 
heavenly Father cannot pass over our sins as if right and 
wrong were of no account; they can be forgiven only if they 
are atoned for and repented of. But his love is so great in 
spite of our sins that, in order to save us, he " spared not his 
own Son, but delivered him up for us all." — Rom. viii. 32. 

* Fuller teaching on the Atonement is given in Bible Lessons on the 
Sacraments in the lessons on the Holy Communion. 






GOD THE SON 



II 9 



Cp. Gen. xxii. 1 to 19, John iii. 16. Truly, as our text tells 
us, God proves his unmerited love toward us in that, sinners 
as we still were, Christ died for us. 

And who was the .Person who hung there upon the Cross? 
He was the only-begotten Son of God, who became man 
for our salvation. This familiar truth will perhaps impress 
us as it should, if we compare our Saviour's death with the 
most heroic instances of self-sacrifice that we can find. 
Anyone who looks for heroic deeds will find many examples, 
in histories or in the daily papers, of noble attempts to save 
life even at the expense of the rescuer's own. But when we 
compare the Person who gave his life, the manner in which 
he gave it, and the unworthiness of those for whom he died, 
with the corresponding features in the noblest stories of 
human self-sacrifice, we see that our Saviour paid for our 
sins a ransom of priceless worth. Cp. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. If 
our sins required such a ransom, they deserve no less than 
death, yes, no less than what our Saviour suffered for us. 
We see their utter sinfulness, and learn to hate them, if we 
reflect upon the cost of their forgiveness, the death of the 
Son of God, our loving Saviour. 

Our Saviour suffered with forgiving patience. Cp. Isa. 
liii., 1 Pet. ii. 22 to 25. This impresses upon us the truth 
that his death was a perfectly free act of sacrifice. He 
regards it as a service, the climax of a life of service. — Mark 
x. 45. "At the end of the avenue stood a cross, and the 
Saviour of men walked up to it as if it had been a crown." 
His perfect human life was voluntarily offered to God, that 
atonement might be made for all sins. Thereby we obtain 
pardon for the past, deliverance from the sense of guilt, and 
free access to God; and are saved, not indeed from suffering 
and from bodily death, but from the spiritual death which is 
the full penalty of sin. And so he made once for all a full 
and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. 



I2 o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Outside the city in a public place and between two robbers 

our Saviour was nailed to the cross to suffer and die. 
He endured the mocking of the crowd, the chief priests and 

the robber, the grief of his disciples and his mother, and 

the burden of all the sins of men. 
Six hours he suffered, the last three hours being hours of 

darkness, and then completed his perfect sacrifice by 

his death. 
The public execution of our blessed Redeemer, exposed to the 

mocking crowds, proclaims openly the righteousness of 

God and the depth of God's love. 
That the Person who died on the cross was the Son of God 

proclaims the magnitude of our sins. 
His patient, voluntary endurance of death impresses upon us 

the truth that his death was a sacrifice, the one perfect 

sacrifice for all sins. 

The next lesson shows that our Saviour really was dead 
after his crucifixion, that he was buried, and that in his spirit 
he went to the realm of the dead. The teacher should read 
John xix. 31 to end, Mark xv. 42 to end, Luke xxiii. 50 to 
end and Acts ii. 22 to 32, as well as our Bible lesson. It 
will be noticed that, in order to make lessons 23, 24 and 25 
of more equal length, the proper division of the articles of the 
Creed has been departed from in the headings. 



LESSON 25 

DEAD AND BURIED; HE DESCENDED INTO HELL 

Review. Our Saviour was crucified for us, showing us 
the righteousness and the love of God and our sinful- 
ness, and offering himself as the one perfect sacrifice for all 
sins. 



GOD THE SON 121 

Text, i St. Peter iii. 19. Bible lesson, St. Matt, xxvii. 
57 to end — Gospel for Easter-Even. 

All the Evangelists tell us that our Saviour died upon the 
Cross, and St. John (xix. 31 to 36) adds details which make 
the fact of the death indisputable. The Lord's side was 
pierced by the long, heavy lance of one of the soldiers, when, 
coming to break the legs of those crucified, they saw that 
Jesus was dead already; and this is solemnly affirmed as 
having been seen by the apostle with his own eyes. St. 
Mark (xv. 44, 45) mentions also that Pilate ordered the body 
to be given to Joseph only after the officer in charge of the 
execution had explicitly reported that Jesus was dead. That 
Christ died for our sins is an essential part of the gospel 
message (1 Cor. xv. 3), and is continually shown forth by 
the Holy Communion (1 Cor. xi. 26). 

When the end of that first Good Friday was near, Joseph 
of Arimathaea, a rich and prominent man, had the courage 
to go to Pilate and beg the body of Jesus. His request being 
granted, he took down the body from the cross, assisted 
probably by others who loved and reverenced the Crucified. 
Nicodemus joined in caring for the body, bringing a great 
quantity of precious spices in which it might be wrapped. 
They swathed the body in the new linen cloth, between the 
folds of which the spices were freely crumbled, bound it 
with strips of cloth, and covered the face. Then they laid 
the body in Joseph's new tomb, which was hewn in the rock 
in a garden near the place of the crucifixion. They rolled 
a great stone to the mouth of the tomb, and went away. 
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James saw where 
the Lord's body was laid, and then they too went away to 
prepare spices and ointments; for they wished to do their part 
in caring for the Lord's body, and to use ointments in addi- 
tion to the spices which Nicodemus had brought. As it was 



122 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

"the day of the preparation," that is, the Friday of Passover 
week, it would be illegal to do any work after night had come 
on, because that Saturday was the Sabbath and a great 
festival. And so the burial of our Lord had to be quickly 
attended to by Joseph, and the women could not perform 
their loving task until the Sabbath was over. Accordingly 
they all went away, and through the first Easter-Even our 
Lord's body lay in the tomb, bound hand and foot with 
grave-clothes and shut fast by the great stone. Not only 
was it thus secured and quiet in death, but furthermore the 
stone was sealed on Easter-Even by the Jewish officials, and 
a guard of Roman soldiers was posted by Pilate's permission 
before the tomb, so that none of the friends of Jesus could 
take away his body and say he was alive. We can imagine 
the sadness of those who performed the last offices for our 
Lord when they went away leaving his body in the tomb, the 
grief of the women, and the gloom and despondency of the 
apostles and other disciples, to whom it seemed that all they 
had been working and hoping for had ended in failure. 

Upon the cross our Saviour said to the penitent thief, 
" To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise." And at the 
last he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
These sayings imply that, although his body was to be 
laid in the grave dead, his human soul would continue to 
live. From Good Friday afternoon until Easter morning 
his soul was absent from his body, but he did not cease to 
live or to be active on behalf of mankind. For in his spirit 
"he went and preached unto the spirits in prison," that is, 
to the dead who are detained in God's keeping until the 
Judgment Day. Cp. i Pet. iv. 6. The word translated 
"prison" means strictly a guard-house or place of detention 
rather than a place of punishment. Accordingly we believe 
"he descended into hell" or "went to the place of departed 
spirits." See the rubric before the Apostles' Creed. The 



GOD THE SON 



123 



word " hell " does not mean in the Creed the place of torment, 
as it does in Psalm 9: 17 and some other Bible passages; 
but it means, as in Psalm 16: 11, Acts ii. 31 and other pas- 
sages, paradise, the place of rest and peace, where those who 
have gone from among us now are. Thither our Saviour 
went in his human soul to proclaim the gospel to the dead. 
That our Lord "tasted death for every man," really died 
as every man must die, shows us that he experienced the 
utmost that is our lot, and will be ready to feel for us and 
support us when our last hour comes. And since his soul, 
parted from the body, went to the world of souls, as our souls 
must go, we need not fear our own departure to the place of 
rest, nor dread the thought of the journey taken by friends 
who go before us. 

Our Saviour died upon the Cross as truly as every man must 
die. 

His body was buried in Joseph's tomb, wrapped in grave- 
clothes, secured by the stone, the seal and the guard, 
and left by his despairing disciples in the quiet of death. 

His soul went to the place of departed spirits to tell them of 
his redemptive work. 

To know that our Saviour himself died and departed to the 
other world gives us comfort when death comes upon 
us or upon those we love. 

The next lesson should associate the story of the first Easter 
morning so firmly with the words, "the third day he rose 
again," that they will always bring to mind the tremendous 
event by which the chains of death were forever broken. 
In preparing the lesson the two passages found in the Prayer 
Book should be used by all the class; the others may be as- 
signed to individuals. The teacher should also read Matt, 
xxviii. 5 to 9 and Luke xxiv. 1 to 13. Lessons 26 and 27 



124 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



may readily be combined, and so may 28 and 29; it is well, 
however, to give the children a full survey of the accounts 
of the resurrection, if time allows, aiming to show them in a 
simple, positive way, without raising difficulties or making 
long explanations of our aim, the strength of the evidence 
for our Lord's rising. 

LESSON 26 
THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN 

Review. Our Saviour, having been condemned by Pilate, 
scourged and crucified, died upon the Cross. His body was 
placed in the tomb by his despairing disciples, the stone was 
sealed, and a guard posted; while in his spirit he went and 
preached to the spirits in paradise. 

Text, Rom. i. 4. Bible lessons: (a) St. Matt, xxviii. 1 to 
5 (not in the Prayer Book) ; (b) St. Mark xvi. 1 to 9 — second 
Gospel for Easter-day; (c) St. John xx. 1 to n — first Gospel 
for Easter-day; (d) St. John xx. 11 to 19 (not in the Prayer 
Book); (e) St. Matt, xxviii. 9 to 16 (not in the Prayer Book). 

Sorrow turned into joy, defeat into victory, death into life, 
is the message of the first Easter morning. If this message 
is to come home to us, we must first bring the story of that 
happy morning fully and clearly before our minds by study- 
ing the Gospel narrative. The four Gospels give us accounts 
derived from a number of eye-witnesses, and the narratives 
have that variety in detail together with an unpremeditated 
harmony in the whole which is the strongest guarantee that 
testimony is honest and accurate. We cannot go into the 
nice questions, interesting as they are, of the relation and 
harmony of the several accounts, which are treated in any 
good Life of Christ; our concern is to give the children a 



GOD THE SON 



125 



vivid impression of the story in its main features, making it, 
if possible, as full and living as it is in the Gospels. It is 
necessary here only to suggest how our material should be 
arranged, and incidentally to comment on a few passages, 
(a) Very early indeed there was the earthquake, and the 
angel rolled back the stone, terrifying the soldiers so that 
they forsook their post, (b) When the women came, they 
saw the stone was rolled away; and entering the tomb they 
saw an angel, who told them that Jesus was risen, and bade 
them tell the disciples. Angels announced the resurrection 
as they had announced the birth of our Lord. The women 
went quickly on their errand, and, being amazed and awed, 
said nothing to anyone by the way. (c) Meanwhile Mary 
Magdalene had turned back without entering the tomb, it 
would appear, as soon as she saw the stone was moved, and 
had found St. Peter and St. John. They, running to the 
sepulchre, found it empty. The grave-clothes were lying 
in order, showing that the body had not been hastily carried 
away by anyone, (d) When the two disciples had gone to 
their homes, Mary Magdalene remained and saw two angels, 
and then the risen Master. Blinded by her tears, she thought 
him to be the gardener until he spoke to her by name and 
she looked directly at him. This was the first appearance 
of our risen Lord. His saying, "Take not hold on me," 
indicates that he would not be with his disciples in the same 
way as before his death, but, after showing himself to them 
at various times in his glorified body, would ascend to the 
Father. He speaks of them as "my brethren" because, 
after his divine nature was fully manifested by his resurrec- 
tion, there was no danger of their thinking him to be only 
man. They and we are sons of God by creation, and share, 
moreover, the Lord's resurrection life. But the Father of 
all men is first, in the highest sense, the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and we have 



I2 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

life through him alone. With this accord his words, "my 
Father and your Father, my God and your God." (e) While 
the other women were on their way to tell the disciples, as the 
angel had bidden them, Jesus appeared to them, and told 
them he would show himself to his disciples in Galilee. 
Some of the soldiers meanwhile reported to the chief priests 
what had taken place, and the latter bribed them to declare 
that the body of Jesus had been stolen while they slept, a 
statement plainly absurd. 

One great meaning of Jesus' resurrection is set forth by 
our text: he was visibly designated, or declared, with might 
to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, 
which is the crowning miracle of all, a signal manifestation 
of divine power. His rising confirmed and fixed unchange- 
ably his disciples' faith in him as the Son of God, when his 
death had well nigh overwhelmed them with grief and 
despair. In all the story of that first Easter morning we 
notice sadness and despondency in the women and in the 
apostles, and before the great event happened they showed 
no expectation that their Master would rise again. But 
sorrow was quickly turned into joy and despondency into 
belief by their finding the tomb empty with the grave-clothes 
lying in order, by receiving the messages of the angels, and 
especially by their presently seeing the risen Lord. This 
faith in Jesus risen, which sprang up from the observed facts 
of the great day, should be ours; and with it a mighty joy 
at the victory of our Lord over death. Because Jesus rose, 
we, too, are sure that he is the Son of God; otherwise he 
could not have conquered death by living, as before he had 
conquered Satan by resisting, disease by healing, error by his 
teaching, and sin by dying. And so the resurrection is the 
crowning proof that he is the true life of all men, himself 
sharing in the life and the life-giving power of the Father. 
His miracles and teaching were signs showing who he is; 



GOD THE SON 



127 



but his rising on the third day is the greatest sign of all that 
he is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of men. 
Cp. Matt xii. 38 to 41, John ii. 18 to 23. 

The story of the first Easter morning brings us the message 

of sorrow turned into joy, defeat into victory, death into 

life. 
The Resurrection established unwaveringly the faith of our 

Lord's disciples in him as the Son of God, and assures 

us that he is our mighty Saviour. 

The next lesson continues the Easter story, and brings out 
another of its meanings. The teacher should read John xx. 
19 to 24, Gospel for the First Sunday after Easter. Some 
additional passages illustrating the truth that Christ died and 
rose again "according to the Scriptures" are: John ii. 22, 
xx. 9, Acts xvii. 2, 3, xxvi. 22, 23, 1 Cor. xv. 4. 



LESSON 27 
THE EVENING OF THE FIRST EASTER-DAY 

Review. Our Lord rose from the dead on the third day, 
and thereby showed himself mightily to be the Son of God. 

Text, Acts x. 40, 41. Bible lessons: St. Luke xxiv. 13 to 
36 — Gospel for Monday in Easter- week; St. Luke xxiv. 
36 to 49 — Gospel for Tuesday in Easter- week. 

On the afternoon of the first Easter-day Cleopas and 
another of Jesus' disciples walked out from the city to 
Emmaus, a village about eight miles away. Their hearts 
were full of the sad ending to their Master's life, and as they 
walked they spoke together of all that had been done to him. 
Someone came up with them and walked beside them, but 



I2 8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

they did not recognize him as anyone they knew. He asked 
them what this was they were talking about as they walked 
along so sadly. They were surprised that anyone, even a 
passing stranger, should need to ask, for things so notable 
had happened that they must be in the minds and on the 
lips of everyone. "What kind of things?" the stranger 
asked, leading them thus to tell him, as they willingly did, 
of their Master. He was a mighty prophet, they said, "and 
we had hoped that he was the one who should redeem Israel." 
But he had been crucified, and their hopes had given way 
to despair and grief; they must have been mistaken in think- 
ing him more than a prophet and in believing him to be the 
Messiah. Still, there was this much encouragement, some 
women of their company had found the tomb empty, and had 
been told by angels that he was alive; and some of the men 
had seen the tomb empty as the women said. "But him 
they saw not." Then the stranger began to teach them 
from the Scriptures that it was necessary the Messiah should 
suffer, and that they ought to recognize the sufferings and 
death of Jesus as evidence that he was the Christ. When 
they came to Emmaus, the stranger began to take leave of 
them, and would have departed, but they urged him to 
remain. And then at supper, as he took bread and blessed 
it, and brake and gave to them, they recognized their Master 
who had been crucified. Thereupon he disappeared from 
their sight, leaving them convinced that he was the Messiah 
and still alive, and that their hopes had not been in vain. 

They returned at once to Jerusalem, full of joy and en- 
thusiasm, their whole outlook completely changed from the 
sadness with which they had gone forth, and came to the 
eleven and the other disciples, ready to tell their wonderful 
story. They were greeted with the news that the Lord had 
appeared to St. Peter, the apostle who had denied his Lord 
and was most in need of consolation. This appearance of 



GOD THE SON I20 

the risen Christ is not further described, but St. Paul men- 
tions it in i Cor. xv. 5 as a most important evidence of the 
resurrection. It seems to have occurred after Cleopas and 
his friend had started for Emmaus, and before the disciples 
at Jerusalem assembled. ("The eleven" is used to denote 
the apostles, although St. Thomas was absent, that being 
their number since the death of Judas.) 

While the two disciples were still hearing and telling of 
these great events, Jesus himself suddenly appeared in the 
gathering, though the doors were barred. The disciples 
were terrified, thinking they saw a ghost. Jesus convinced 
them of his identity, showing them the wounds in his hands 
and feet, by which they might know him to be the Master of 
whom they supposed the crucifixion had robbed them for- 
ever. And then he convinced them of the reality of his body, 
bidding them touch him and feel that he was actually with 
them, and eating before them when for joy they could 
hardly believe the evidence of eye and hand. He plainly 
wished them to be sure of the reality of his risen life, and not 
to think that they saw merely the ghost of a dead Master; 
for that would have had no effect in convincing them of his 
continued existence and active power. He appeared in such 
ways that there could be no doubt he was truly living, pos- 
sessing indeed a new and glorified life. His body was the 
same in which he had lived among men and died on the cross; 
it still bore the wounds made by the nails and the spear. 
And yet it was changed and glorified; it was not limited by 
such hindrances as closed doors; death had no dominion 
over it. It was, nevertheless, real, so that it could be touched 
as well as seen, and could be used, as in the symbolical acts 
of eating and of giving food to the disciples. This truth is 
known by us through the witness of those "who did eat and 
drink with him after he rose from the dead." 

When the Lord had proved that it was he himself who 



I3 o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

appeared, and that he was really living, he reminded his 
disciples of what he had told them beforehand concerning 
his sufferings, death and resurrection, and showed that all 
this had been prophesied of the Christ. From the use which 
the apostles made of Psalms 2 and 16 we may suppose that 
our Lord spoke of those passages as foretelling his resurrec- 
tion. Cp. Acts ii. 25 to 32, xiii. 32 to 38. 

Because Jesus rose from the dead we are sure that we too 
shall rise. Cp. John xi. 25, 1 Cor. xv. 20 to 24. One Man 
has come back from the far country to which we all must 
journey, and has returned in glory. And he who has done so 
is our Saviour, who conquered death for us no less than for 
himself. His rising gives us an assurance that we shall rise, 
such as we could not have from any reasonings or hopes of 
our own, or even, we may say, from promises of Holy Scrip- 
ture. And so the outlook of a Christian, when his friends 
die or he thinks of his own death, is as different from the 
sorrow of the world as the joy of the disciples when their 
Master appeared was from their despondency before he rose. 

Toward evening of the first Easter-day the risen Lord 
appeared to two disciples on the way to Emmaus. 

He appeared to St. Peter. 

In the evening he appeared to ten of the apostles, and the 
disciples assembled with them, and showing them his 
hands and side convinced them that he was truly risen. 

He showed them that his sufferings, death and resurrection 
had been foretold in the Old Testament. 

Because our Saviour truly rose in his glorified body, we are 
sure that we too shall rise. 

The next lesson deals with the appearances of our Lord 
after the day of his rising, and with the new life we have in 
him. The teacher should study more details of the story 



GOD THE SON 13 r 

than are touched upon here, but should not use too many 
in class, nor attempt to bring out at any one time more than 
one or two of the main ethical teachings of the resurrection. 



LESSON 28 
LATER APPEARANCES OF OUR RISEN LORD 

Review. The appearances of the Lord to his disciples on 
the resurrection day perfectly convinced them that he was 
truly alive in his glorified body. 

Text, Acts i. 3. Bible lessons: (a) St. John xx. 24 to end 
— Gospel for St. Thomas's Day; (b) St. John xxi. 1 to 15 
(not in the Prayer Book); (c) St. Matt, xxviii. 16 to end 
(not in the Prayer Book); (d) 1 Cor. xv. 1 to 12 — Epistle 
for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. 

(a) St. Thomas was not present with the other apostles 
when our Lord appeared to them and showed them by his 
wounds that he was their Master who had been crucified. 
They told St. Thomas the glad news, but he could not feel 
sure it was true. Then on the Sunday after Easter-day, 
when the disciples were again gathered together with shut 
doors, Jesus came. He stood suddenly in their midst and 
greeted them, and, turning to Thomas, with tender con- 
sideration for the weakness and doubt of one who was willing 
and desirous to believe, he bade him touch his hands and 
his side. He knew what questionings St. Thomas had ex- 
pressed, and recalled the words he had used. This should 
remind us that our risen Lord is always present, though 
unseen, even when people doubt or deny him. St. Thomas 
did not wait to touch Christ, but at once gave joyful utterance 
to his faith in him, addressing him as "my Lord and my 
God." He not only recognized his Master as being truly 



I3 2 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

present before his eyes, but also was completely convinced 
that his Lord was more than man. It was a "sublime, 
instantaneous confession, won from doubt," that the risen 
Lord is God. The Master accepted this assertion of his 
divinity as a true expression of faith. And he declared that 
they are blessed who, though they do not see him, yet believe 
on the testimony of good witnesses. Let us therefore re- 
member that the apostles taught, the Gospels were written, 
the Church teaches now, in order that we may " believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing may have 
life through his name." 

(b) The third time that Jesus manifested himself to a 
number of his disciples gathered together was at the lake 
of Gennesaret, while they were fishing. They knew him on 
account of the wonderful draught of fishes which they took 
at his command, reminding them of the like sign he had 
wrought before. Cp. lesson 16. And he showed the reality 
of his presence by giving them fish and bread, an action 
beautiful in itself and a symbol of his imparting new life 
and spiritual sustenance to believers. 

(c) In accordance with our Lord's command the apostles 
went to Galilee to the mountain where he promised to show 
himself to them. And there he gave them the great com- 
mission to go to all parts of the world and bring men into his 
Church. This he could give because he himself, having 
completed his redemptive work and won the victory over 
sin and death, possesses all authority in heaven and earth. 
The mission intrusted to them was to make disciples of all 
the nations, baptizing them in the threefold Name, and 
teaching them all that Jesus had taught. Cp. lesson 3. 
And the risen Lord promised to be with them continually, 
not leaving them to themselves, but constantly guiding and 
strengthening them. 

(d) St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians gives us one 



GOD THE SON 



*33 



of the strongest statements we have of the reality of our 
Lord's resurrection. He is writing to a congregation of 
people whom he had himself made disciples and instructed, 
and he reminds them of the foremost truth he had taught 
them, which he had himself received from eye-witnesses, 
that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on 
the third day. He then enumerates in a precise and de- 
liberate way the appearances of the risen Lord to those who 
were appointed to be witnesses of the resurrection, that is, 
to assert and preach it publicly, omitting such appearances 
as that to Mary Magdalene. He solemnly declares, as he 
had declared when first he preached to the Corinthians, that 
Jesus Christ appeared to St. Peter, to the apostles as a body 
(Luke xxiv. 36 to 44, John xx. 19 to 24), to an assembly of 
more than five hundred, most of whom were still alive when 
he wrote; to St. James, to all the apostles, to himself on the 
road to Damascus when he was persecuting the Christians 
(Acts ix. 1 to 10). He gives this bare enumeration of the 
facts because he assumes that his readers would recollect 
the fuller message he had already given. So also in 1 Thess. 
i. 10 and iv. 14 he alludes briefly but clearly to the resurrec- 
tion as a fact well known and undoubted. Thus we have 
from him accounts of the great event less full and interesting, 
to be sure, than those of the Gospels, but most important 
to remember as assuring us of the indubitable evidence 
upon which the faith of the first Christians rested. This is 
summarized, too, in our text. 

Since our Lord rose and lives, we have a new life of free- 
dom; "because I live, ye shall live also," he said. — John xiv. 
19. Through him we are raised up "from the death of sin 
to the life of righteousness." There is a resurrection of our 
souls, a passing from sin to holiness now; and the life here- 
after is a continuation of this present new life. Cp. Rom. 
viii. 10, 11. And so the rising of Christ completes the saving 



134 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

work of his death; he was put to death for our sins,. "and 
was raised again for our justification." — Rom. iv. 25; cp. 
v. 10. Consequently St. Paul teaches (Rom. vi. 2 to 14) 
that in Baptism, wherein we confess our faith in Jesus risen 
and are made to share his risen life, we die to sins and are 
made alive to God. Therefore we must not fall back through 
sin into death, from which Christ has freed us; but by living 
righteously through the power of our risen Lord we must 
continue now and hereafter in his new life. "A conflict 
which ends in victory is the sum and substance of the Chris- 
tian life," as it is of the story of Jesus' resurrection. 

The risen Lord appeared to his disciples including St. 

Thomas, who joyfully confessed him as his Lord and 

God. 
The Lord appeared to seven disciples while they were fishing, 

and giving them fish and bread showed the reality of his 

risen life and symbolized the new life he imparts to 

believers. 
He appeared upon the mountain in Galilee, and commis- 
sioned his apostles for their work of bringing all men 

to share this new life. 
St. Paul gives evidence of the firm belief of the first Christians 

that Christ had truly risen and had shown himself to 

well-known witnesses. 
Because our Lord rose, we have a new life here, which is 

the beginning of life immortal. 

The next lesson shows that an essential part of the apostles' 
work was to bear witness that Jesus Christ was risen. The 
teacher should read Acts iii. 13 to 16, iv. 10, 19 to 22, v. 29 
to 33, xvii. 3, 18, xxv. 19, xxvi. 22, 23. 



GOD THE SON 



LESSON 29 



135 



THE WITNESS OF THE APOSTLES TO THE 
RESURRECTION 

Review. Our Lord appeared repeatedly in such ways 
as to prove he was truly living and in possession of a new 
and glorious life. In this the members of his kingdom share 
now and forever. 

Text, Acts ii. 32. Bible lesson, Acts x. 34 to 44 — Epistle 
for Monday in Easter-week. 

Jesus Christ crucified and risen again from the dead was 
the foremost theme of the message which the apostles 
preached. Our Bible lesson describes what St. Peter once 
told a group of people to whom he was sent with the gospel 
news. On this occasion he was under the immediate 
guidance of the Holy Spirit in going to Caesarea with his 
tidings, and Cornelius had sent for him from another city 
in consequence of receiving a heavenly vision. He found, 
too, a considerable company gathered together to hear what 
he had to tell them. Thus it was an occasion calling for 
the most essential message of Christianity. And St. Peter's 
address is prefaced in the narrative by the words, "he 
opened his mouth," a phrase used to introduce a solemn and 
weighty declaration (cp. viii. 35). Moreover, when his mes- 
sage was given, the Holy Ghost fell on all who heard it. 
What then was this great message? That Jesus had been 
anointed with the Holy Ghost as the Messiah, and had 
manifested himself as the Christ by going about doing good 
and healing, as his disciples could bear witness; that he had 
been slain on the cross; and that God raised him up on the 
third day and made him manifest, not indeed to all the people, 



I3 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

but to witnesses chosen beforehand. He, yes he, is Lord of 
all, shown by his works of love and power and by his rising 
from the dead to be Lord and Christ. Ke shall be the Judge 
of all, and whoever believes in him shall receive forgiveness 
of sins. This is one example of the fact that the apostles 
preached " Jesus and the resurrection.' •' Another is St. 
Paul's preaching at Antioch, described in Acts xiii. 26 to 42, 
Epistle for Tuesday in Easter-week. 

We notice, too, that the apostles speak of themselves and 
are spoken of as witnesses to Jesus Christ and his resurrec- 
tion. This is in accordance with our Lord's sayings in St. 
Luke xxiv. 48 and St. John xv. 27. And when it was neces- 
sary to choose an apostle in the place of Judas Iscariot, the 
apostles chose a man who had companied with them all 
through the Lord's public ministry, from his baptism to his 
ascension, that he might be a witness with them of his res- 
urrection. — Acts i. 15 to end, Epistle for St. Matthias's Day. 
Thus one of their chief duties was to bear witness to what 
they had seen and heard of his life, works, and teaching, 
his death, and, above all, his rising again. If we make clear 
to ourselves how fundamental the preaching of the resurrec- 
tion was, we shall see how firmly the whole New Testament 
Church believed that the Lord had truly risen. 

This universal and early belief, dating from the very 
morning of the resurrection, is weighty evidence to the truth 
of that great event. The apostles, because of this belief, 
declared fearlessly before all people, before the rulers, in spite 
of mocking, threats, imprisonment, beatings, and later even 
of torture and death, that they were witnesses to the fact 
of Jesus' resurrection. It is impossible that such a belief 
should have sprung up, when the disciples were plunged 
into despair by the crucifixion, unless they had indubitable 
proof, such as they declared they had, that Jesus was risen. 
As a practical thought we may add that in many ages in- 



GOD THE SON 



137 



numerable martyrs, or witnesses for Christ, have testified 
like the apostles to their firm belief in him as the risen Lord, 
in whose service and by whose power they would live and 
die. Do we, too, bear witness to the truth and power of 
our Lord's resurrection by word and deed, and show forth 
the power of the new life within us? 

The central truth proclaimed by the apostles was the resur- 
rection and its message of the new life. 

The apostles regarded themselves as witnesses of the resur- 
rection. 

The belief of the whole New Testament Church, dating from 
the very day of the resurrection, that Jesus was risen, 
could have sprung up only if his rising truly occurred. 

The next lesson tells of our Lord's departure from earth 
to reign in heaven as our King. On the significance of his 
ascension see Satterlee, New Testament Churchmanship, 
pages 81 ff. and 97 ff. 

LESSON 30 
HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN 

Review. Our Lord rose the third day, conquering death 
and winning eternal life for us. He appeared repeatedly to 
his disciples, who bore witness to all men of his resurrection. 

Text, St. Luke xxiv. 50, 51. Bible lesson, Acts i. 1 to 12 — 
Epistle for Ascension-day. 

Even before his death, our Lord told his disciples that he 
would go to his Father's house to prepare a place for them; 
and he said also: "I came forth from the Father, and am 
come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the 
Father." — John xiv. 2, xvi. 28; cp. vi. 62, xx. 17. After 



138 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

his resurrection he manifested himself during forty days when 
and how he chose, proving himself to be truly risen, and 
teaching his apostles about the kingdom which he had come 
to establish. And he commanded them to wait in Jerusalem 
for his Father's promise, given through him, that the Holy 
Ghost should come upon them. So St. Luke in the opening 
verses of the Acts recapitulates what he had told in the last 
part of his former narrative, his Gospel. 

The story of the ascension itself he begins with the ques- 
tion which the eleven apostles, assembled on the Mount of 
Olives above Bethany, asked of the Lord, "Is it now that 
thou dost reestablish the kingdom of Israel?" They still 
misunderstood the nature of his redemptive work for men, 
and imagined "the kingdom of God" might mean an earthly 
empire. Our Lord did not reply directly, but led their 
thoughts away from temporal sovereignty to the duty of 
being witnesses for him, and to the power which they should 
receive for this work in the coming of the Holy Spirit. And 
he told them they were to bear witness of him "unto the utter- 
most parts of the earth," indicating that his kingdom should 
be not for the Jews alone but universal. Then, when he 
had thus spoken, he passed in royal state to his Father's 
throne, the cloud receiving him as though it were a chariot. 
Thus the apostles' question about the kingdom was answered, 
so far as the present is concerned, by our Lord's entering in 
this visible and profoundly significant way into his heavenly 
glory. And for the future it was answered by the angels' 
words: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go 
into heaven." Our Lord has indeed established a kingdom, 
world-wide, of boundless power, destined to endure forever; 
and it is, as he had said repeatedly and now showed by his 
ascension, a kingdom not of this world, but spiritual and 
more real than that of any earthly ruler. 



GOD THE SON 139 

The ascension was the enthronement of our heavenly 
King. This is evident from the manner of his final departure 
from his apostles. For whereas the risen Lord simply 
vanished from their sight after each of his earlier appear- 
ances, he parted from them for the last time in such a way 
that they knew it was the last. And he chose a manner of 
departure which clearly showed that he was received by his 
Father into divine glory. For the sky above is always the 
symbol of God's abode, and a cloud, as at the transfiguration, 
may symbolize his presence. And so our Lord's ascending 
from the earth toward the blue depths of the sky and depart- 
ing upon the cloud was the most perfect symbol we can 
imagine of his entrance upon his heavenly reign. Further- 
more, this solemn and glorious close to his earthly life is 
spoken of by the apostles as a triumph: "Him hath God 
exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." — 
Acts v. 31. The glory upon which he entered is not open 
to our eyes, and his ruling power is not always evident to us; 
but we know from the mighty act by which he took possession 
of his royal state that he who became incarnate, died and rose 
again for us, continues to live, and that his work continues. 
He who ascended was the same Jesus Christ who was born, 
worked and taught among men. And he ascended with the 
same body in which he had lived, had been put to death 
and rose again. In this body, glorified by his victory over 
death, he entered upon the life of heaven. Cp. Ephes. iv. 
8 to 11. He did not merely resume the glory that he had 
with the Father from the beginning of the world; but he 
returned to his Father as perfect Man, highly exalted because 
he had been obedient even unto the death of the cross. And 
the ascension differs, too, from the departure from this world 
which he might have chosen when he was transfigured; for 
when he ascended his work was finished, his sacrifice was 
made, his victory over death was won. 



140 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



" Jesus we know, and he is on the throne," is the message 
to us of the ascension. Our Saviour-King rules over all 
things in heaven and earth as sovereign, possessing all power. 
— Matt, xxviii. 18, i Peter iii. 22. And so we have a Friend 
in heaven, the very same Lord Jesus who lived upon our 
earth, who loves us and understands us; he is upon the 
right hand of the Majesty on high, unseen by mortal eyes, 
but guiding and controlling all that comes to pass. There he 
"makes intercession for us." — Rom. viii. 34. And as he 
parted from his apostles with his hands upraised in blessing, 
so now he is our High Priest, who pleads and presents his 
perfect sacrifice, made once for all upon Calvary, through 
whom we come with confident trust to the very throne of 
the Most High. — Heb. iv. 14, 16, sentence for Ascension- 
day in Morning Prayer. Cp. Heb. x. 12 to 15. And so the 
truth that Jesus our Saviour is our ascended King should 
fill us with courage and steadfastness alike in prayer and 
work, and with calm certainty that our lives and all human 
affairs will be guided for the best. 

Our Lord foretold his ascension, and during the forty days 
after Easter he prepared his apostles' minds for his 
departure from them. 

Having led their thoughts away from temporal sovereignty, 
he ascended in their sight to take possession of his 
heavenly kingdom. 

His ascension was the enthronement of our King, the triumph 
following his victory over sin and death. 

He who ascended was the same Jesus who was born, lived, 
died and rose again for us. 

He lives now in heaven, receiving our prayers, making inter- 
cession for us, ruling all events, guiding our lives. 

The next lesson tells of two revelations given by our Lord 



GOD THE SON I 4 I 

of his heavenly life and power. The teacher should com- 
pare Acts xxii. 6 to 17, xxvi. 12 to 19, 1 Cor. ix. 1, xv. 8, 9 
and Gal. i. 12 with our second Bible lesson. 



LESSON 31 
SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER 

Review. After appearing to his disciples during forty 
days, our Lord parted from them for the last time, and 
ascended to heaven upon a cloud to take possession of his 
kingdom. 

Text, Col. iii. 1. Bible lessons: Acts vii. 55 to end — 
Epistle for St. Stephen's Day; Acts ix. 1 to 10 — first part 
of Epistle for St. Paul's Day. 

The apostles very early applied to the ascension the words 
of Psalm no: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou 
at my right hand." — Acts ii. 33 to 37. They did so, no 
doubt, because of our Lord's words, "Ye shall see the Son 
of Man sitting on the right hand of power." — Mark xiv. 62. 
To sit on the right hand of a great man is to have a distin- 
guished place, and so the phrase is naturally used to signify 
the possession of honor and power. Hence it is used in the 
Creed not as though we supposed God has a body or hands, 
but as expressing, so far as human language can, the truth 
that Jesus fully shares the divine glory of the Father and 
administers the supreme government of heaven and earth. 
This truth was made known by the manner of our Lord's 
final departure from his disciples, as we have seen; and it is 
impressed upon us further when we consider the glimpses 
of his exalted state which he granted to St. Stephen and St. 
Paul. 

The first Christian martyr saw his ascended Lord in the 



142 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



heavens. The story of his martyrdom and of this revelation 
should be told fully in class, but here only two comments 
need be made. First, the contrast should be noticed be- 
tween this manifestation of the risen Jesus and those given 
before his ascension, when he appeared in the midst of his 
disciples and spoke with them face to face. Secondly, Jesus 
was seen " standing," which reminds us not to think of the 
phrase "sitteth at the right hand" in a material way or too 
literally. 

That which happened to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus 
road was in its effects one of the most important events that 
ever occurred, changing a violent persecutor of "the Way" 
(the Christian Church) into the apostle who preached the 
Gospel to many nations, and who has had a greater influ- 
ence upon Christian thought than any other man. As he 
journeyed, a light from heaven brighter than the sun at mid- 
day suddenly shone round him and those who were with him. 
They fell to the ground. And Saul heard the voice of 
Jesus speaking to him, and he "saw the Lord." The others 
heard the sound of a voice and saw the great light; but Saul 
saw Jesus, and definitely heard his words, "Why persecutest 
thou me," that is, in persecuting the disciples. The men with 
Saul stood speechless after hearing the sound and seeing the 
light. When he arose from the ground he was blinded until 
healed by Ananias at the Lord's command. This turning- 
point in St. Paul's life was again a glimpse of Jesus Christ 
in his risen and ascended heavenly glory. 

It is evident from these brief visions of our Lord, that in 
his heavenly glory he watches over his Church and over every 
man, and is active in behalf of all. Our conviction is hereby 
confirmed that, since the King over all is our Saviour, he 
hears our prayers and controls all things for the best. We 
should never think, then, that our Lord's departure from 
earth has removed him to a distance from us. He is at hand 



GOD THE SON l43 

for our every need, he hears every prayer, he sends his Holy 
Spirit into every faithful heart. He is nearer to us while 
at God's right hand than he would be if he were somewhere 
upon our earth. We worship and serve not a dead Saviour 
who lived once upon the earth long ago, but a living Lord 
who now reigns in heaven. 

Since he is in heaven, our citizenship is there (Phil. iii. 
20), and we must have our hearts and our hopes where our 
Master is. If we are risen with him, so that we are dead 
to sin and possess his new life, then we should also in heart 
and mind ascend to heaven and dwell continually with him. 
— Collect for Ascension-day. Our minds should be set on 
"the things that are above, where Christ sits on the right 
hand of God." 

Our Lord "sits upon the right hand of God," that is, ad- 
ministers now the supreme government of all things 
in heaven and in earth. 

St. Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing on 
the right hand of God. 

St. Paul was converted by a manifestation to him of the 
ascended Christ. 

Our Lord, who lives in heaven, is closer to each one of us 
than if he were somewhere upon earth. 

Our hearts and minds ought to be with him. 

The next lesson tells us that our Lord, who is now in 
heaven, will come again to judgment. The pupils may need 
some guidance as to the parts of the Bible lessons from which 
the questions of the Outline are to be answered. 



I4 4 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



LESSON 32 

HE SHALL COME TO JUDGE THE QUICK AND 
THE DEAD 

Review. The revelation of our ascended Lord to St. 
Stephen and to St. Paul assures us that he now lives and 
reigns in active power at the right hand of his Father. 

Text, St. Mark xiii. 35, 36. Bible lesson, St. Matt. xxiv. 
23 to 32 — Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. 

At our Lord's ascension the two angels declared that he 
will return in the same glorious manner in which he was 
taken up into heaven. And while he was still with his 
disciples he told them repeatedly that he would come one 
day in power to judge all men. Cp. Matt. xvi. 27. Some 
of his sayings about his coming again are contained in our 
Bible lesson. In the earlier part of the chapter there are 
recorded his predictions that the Temple should be destroyed 
and Jerusalem overthrown. From this he passed on to a 
warning not to believe in false Christs and false prophets, 
or to listen to reports that Christ has returned in some secret 
way. For his coming shall be as open and overwhelming 
as a lightning flash shining across the whole sky. Thus his 
advent shall be widely different from his first coming to earth 
as a poor infant in the little village. There shall be startling 
signs of his coming and great woes in all the earth. And 
then all people "shall see the Son of Man coming in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 

The purpose of his coming thus in power will be to judge 
all men. — 2 Cor. v. 10. This judgment will include both 
those who have died before that day and "the quick," those 
who are then alive. The dead in Christ shall rise, and the 



GOD THE SON I45 

faithful who are still living shall be taken up with them. — 
i Thess. iv. 15 to 18; cp. last verse of our Bible lesson. The 
wicked and unbelieving, also, as well as the righteous, shall 
be brought before him, seated on his glorious throne. — Matt, 
xxv. 31 to 34. He will judge every man with complete 
insight into his real character and with the most perfect 
justice, rewarding or punishing each according to the prin- 
ciple, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." — Matt. xxv. 
34 to end. 

There will come a day, then, according to the plain 
teaching of our Lord and his apostles, when everyone of us 
shall stand face to face with Jesus Christ. "The same 
Jesus " who was once upon the earth and now lives in heaven 
shall be seen by every man. Cp. Rev. i. 7. God "hath 
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteous- 
ness by the man whom he hath ordained, having afforded 
proof of this by raising him from the dead." — Acts xvii. 31; 
cp. x. 42. As surely as he rose and now lives, he will appear 
once more. He who came once as our Saviour, who per- 
fectly understands and sympathizes with us, will come again 
as our Judge. And just because he knows our hearts and 
has such perfect love toward us it will be a searching trial to 
stand before him unless we have his love in our hearts and 
have lived in the power of his risen life. His coming will be 
terrible to all who have rejected the appeal of his love and 
have failed to show forth love toward others; the world will 
mourn bitterly when he comes again. But those "who love 
his appearing" will look up and lift up their heads, for their 
redemption will be drawing nigh. — Luke xxi. 28. It is a 
good test of our lives to ask ourselves whether we look 
forward to his coming with fear or with joy. 

The state of blessedness into which the Lord receives the 
faithful shall be everlasting. He who became man for our 



I4 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

sake shall reign in glory forever in a kingdom that "shall 
have no end," and with him all the redeemed. The dark 
side of this great truth is the eternal loss to be suffered by 
those who, having obstinately rejected him, " shall go away 
into everlasting fire," even as "the righteous into life eternal." 
Our Lord emphasizes two duties in view of his advent, 
watchfulness and faithfulness. No one knows the time of his 
coming; he is like a man leaving his house for a long journey 
and giving his servants their work to do while he is gone. 
But though he seems to delay his return he will surely come 
again, and will reward or punish his servants according to 
their work. — Mark xiii. 3 2 to end. " Watch therefore." 

Our Lord has said he will come again, not in weakness but 

in power and in open majesty. 
He will come to judge all, the dead and the living, with 

perfect justice. 
Each of us, then, must one day stand face to face with our 

Saviour and King. 
His kingdom, in which the redeemed shall share, shall have 

no end. 

The next lesson is based on the prologue to St. John's 
Gospel, which, although it is too full of meaning to be wholly 
explained, is too important to be passed over. We can at 
least draw great and living truths from it for the children, 
and start them in the way of understanding and appreciating 
it later. The teacher will find valuable aid in Purves, article 
"Logos," in Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, and in Westcott, 
The Gospel of St. John, pages 1 to 12. 



GOD THE SON 147 

LESSON 33 
THE WORD OF GOD INCARNATE 

Review. The same Lord Jesus who once lived among 
men and now reigns in heaven will one day come in glory, 
and each of us must then stand before his face for judgment. 

Text, 1 Cor. viii. 6. Bible lesson, St. John i. 1 to 15 — 
first Gospel for Christmas-day. 

The prologue to St. John's Gospel is taken for our last 
lesson about God the Son, because in it the beloved apostle 
sums up his teaching as to who his Master was, and what the 
purpose was of his coming to earth. After years of medita- 
tion upon all he had seen the Master do and heard him say, 
upon the life, death, resurrection and ascension, in short 
the whole historic personality and teaching of Jesus Christ, 
St. John wrote this profound summary of his conviction that 
Jesus is the real Incarnation of an eternally divine Person, 
the only-begotten Son of God, who reveals God to men and 
is our Saviour. 

He calls Jesus Christ "the Word." Now a word is the 
expression of thought, and the word of a true man makes 
his real nature known; speech is our most nearly perfect 
means of conveying our ideas to others. When, therefore, 
St. John calls his Master the Word, he beautifully expresses 
the truth that Christ is the perfect manifestation of God's 
nature and will. Before Christ came to earth there were 
types and shadows of the revelation to come, and these were 
given through his divine activity; when he came, he showed 
all men by his life what God's nature is, and what he would 
have us do. "The Word" is used, however, not to assert 
that Christ was a teacher of truths about God; but rather it 
is a designation of the Son in his everlasting function of 



l 4 8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

revealer of God. For he manifests God because he is in 
essence God, and stands eternally in relation to God, as a 
word stands in. relation to thought, or, better, to the mind 
that thinks it. Jesus Christ is called the Word, then, be- 
cause he is the personal manifestation of Deity. Again, we 
use the term, the Word of God, to denote God's revelation 
recorded in the Bible. The very center of this revelation 
is the significance of Christ's person and mission, and it is 
given in order that men may participate in the life of God, 
which is offered to believers through Christ. Consequently 
he in whose being and mission all revelation centers, whose 
divine activity and personal coming perfectly manifests 
God's mind and will, is called emphatically the Word of God. 
"In the beginning," before anything was created, "the 
Word was," existing from all eternity. "And the Word was 
with God," eternally in relation to God, existing as a Person 
distinct from God but in active communion with him; he 
did not first become personal when he entered our world at 
the Incarnation. ' ' And the Word was God " ; in his essential 
nature he was Deity. These statements are weighty and full 
of meaning, though so brief; their formal, stately rhythm 
impresses upon us how emphatic they are. " All things were 
made through him, and without him was not anything made" ; 
the Word was the agent of God in all his creative activity, 
apart from whom nothing was made. "That which was 
made was life in him"; all life, physical, mental, moral, 
in the world is due to him, the quickening Presence in all 
things, through whom all things are sustained. Cp. Col. 
i. 15 to 18. "And the life was the light of men"; the life 
of the Word, manifest in the created world, revealed God 
and duty. We have seen that God is revealed in nature 
and in his dealings with men. Cp. pages 21, 22, 48, 49, 56. 
This revelation, St. John says, was due to the Word, who was 
the agent of God in this as he was in creation. Hence the 



GOD THE SON 



149 



Word was the Light even before he gave mankind the full 
illumination of his incarnate presence. "The light shineth 
in darkness, and the darkness overcame it not"; man be- 
came immersed in darkness by sin and could not receive the 
light, which yet is not conquered. 

Such was the state of mankind before Jesus Christ came 
to be the true Light of every man. When he came, St. John 
the Baptist bore witness to him, that all men might believe. 
Yet as the Light was rejected before, although he was in the 
world and it had been made through him, so when he came 
as man even his own chosen people would not receive him. 
There continued the same conflict between goodness and sin, 
belief and disbelief, after his Incarnation as before. But 
to those who believe with a personal faith he gives the right 
to become the children of God through fellowship with the 
only-begotten Son. This new life is from God, not from 
natural descent or from human desire or power. 

The crowning manifestation of God is given through the 
coming of the eternal Word into human life as Man. "The 
Word was made flesh"; the Person who appeared was the 
divine Word who is eternally with God and is ever God, and 
he took upon himself the complete nature of man, body 
as well as soul. "Was made flesh" does not mean that a 
divine Being was changed into a man. The Word did not 
cease to be God, as the whole drift of the passage shows, but, 
continuing to exist as God, took to himself body and spirit, 
and so became Man. "Was made" reminds us, however, 
that the Word did not assume humanity as something that 
would be laid aside; he retains now in heaven the human 
nature which he assumed. The humanity of the Word is 
complete, not lacking any part of human nature, such as 
will. It is real and permanent, not a temporary appearance, 
like a costume or mask. The divine Nature of the Word 
remains divine, the human remains human, as our minds 



lS o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

and bodies are distinct though closely joined. The Word 
is one Person, yet what he does as God he does in his divine 
Nature, and what he does as man he does in his human 
Nature. 

The Word made flesh dwelt among men, full of grace and 
truth, and showed forth his glory, like the Shekinah in the 
tabernacle, such glory as became the only-begotten of the 
Father. This his disciples beheld, and knew from what 
their eyes saw that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, on whom 
they should believe, and through whom they were made 
children of God. We too should know him as the Word, 
revealing God, the Life in whom we live, the Light from 
whom come knowledge, purity and joy. And as firmly 
as we believe in "one God, the Father, of whom are all 
things, and we in him," we should believe in "one Lord 
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." 

The prologue to St. John's Gospel sums up the teaching of 
the Gospel as to the person and mission of Jesus Christ, 
based on his historical manifestation of himself. 

Jesus Christ is the Word because he perfectly manifests God, 
being the eternal Son. 

He is from everlasting, a Person, divine, by whom all things 
have been made and are sustained, the Light who re- 
veals God. 

His revelation is given that all men may believe, though 
many reject him, and that all who believe may have 
new life in God. 

This eternal, divine Person became Man, not ceasing to 
be God, but taking permanently to himself human 
nature in its completeness. 

He so dwelt among men that his disciples saw his glory 
and knew him to be the Son of God. 



GOD THE SON l5l 



REVIEW 



A review of lessons 23 to 33 inclusive should be held 
before proceeding further. The main theme is the re- 
demptive work of our Lord, "God the Son, who hath re- 
deemed me and all mankind." He suffered and died to 
show us the wickedness of our sins, to draw us to God 
through his love, and to take away our sins by his one sacri- 
fice of himself. He rose again, conquering death, that we 
may rise from the death of sin and enter upon his new life 
of immortality. He so appeared to his disciples that they 
surely knew him to be truly risen, and were thereby fully 
assured that he is the Son of God. He commissioned his 
apostles to be witnesses of his resurrection and to bring all 
men to share in his life. He ascended to heaven and rules 
now over all, guiding our lives, making intercession for us, 
and abiding more closely with us than if he were present as he 
once was with men. Moreover he will come to judge us all 
and to receive the faithful into the full blessedness of his 
unending kingdom. All this he has done and now does for 
us through his being the incarnate Word, God and Man, 
one Person, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Lesson 34 takes up the third paragraph of the Creeds, 
concerning the third Person of the Holy Trinity and his work 
in sanctifying the people of God. In preparation for this 
and the following lessons the teacher would do well to read 
Satterlee, New Testament Churchmanship, Chapter vii., 
and Swete, article on the "Holy Spirit" in Hastings' Dic- 
tionary of the Bible. Valuable notes will be found in Sanday 
and Headlam, Romans, pages 199 f. and in Westcott, The 
Gositel of St. John, on xiv. 15 ff. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 

Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and 
all the people of God. 



LESSON 34 
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY GHOST 

Review. The eternal Son of God, having become incar- 
nate for our salvation, having revealed God and taught us 
his will, having died for our sins and risen that we' might 
have life, ascended into heaven. He reigns now at the right 
hand of God, and yet he is closer to each of us than if he 
were still upon our earth. 

Text, St. John xvi. 7. Bible lesson, St. John xiv. 15 to 
end — Gospel for Whitsunday. 

Something concerning the Holy Spirit was revealed in the 
Old Testament, although he was not fully made known 
until after our Lord was glorified. In Genesis i. and ii. we 
are told that at the creation the Spirit of God co-operated 
with the Word of God in bringing about the order and har- 
mony of the natural world, and originated the personal life 
of man. The prophets and psalmists recognized that they 
received an inspiration from the Spirit, and that he guides 
men in living aright. And when the Christ was to be born, 
the power of the Holy Spirit was shown in prophecy prepar- 
ing his way. For the birth of the Baptist was foretold, who 

152 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 153 

should "be filled with the Holy Ghost"; and the Holy Spirit 
caused his parents to prophesy of him. — Luke i. 15, 41 to 46, 
67 to 80. Again, when Jesus was brought to the Temple 
Simeon and Anna prophesied concerning him. — Luke ii. 
25 to 39. The Holy Spirit caused the Virgin Mary to con- 
ceive the Saviour. — Matt. i. 18, 20, Luke i. 35. He inspired 
the Baptist to proclaim the coming of the Christ. And at 
the Baptism of Jesus, the Spirit came upon him, and anointed 
him as the Christ. — Matt. iii. 16. And all through his 
ministry the Spirit abode with him in his teaching and heal- 
ing, strengthening his humanity with heavenly power. — Mark 
i. 12, Luke iv. 14, 18, Matt. xii. 28, Acts i. 2. Thus the Holy 
Ghost was partly revealed even before our Lord taught his 
disciples about him. 

While our Lord was still engaged in his work, he promised 
to his disciples the guidance and strength of the Spirit. — Matt, 
x. 20, Luke xi. 13. And when the end of his earthly life 
was drawing near, he prepared his apostles' minds for his 
departure from them by his promise that "another Com- 
forter" should take his place, as we read in our Bible lesson. 
He said he would pray the Father to give them the Spirit of 
truth, who would be with them always. He himself must 
depart, but to those who love him and keep his command- 
ments, he would send the Holy Spirit. The world would not 
be able to receive him, because it would not receive Christ, 
and so could not know the Spirit whom he sends. But those 
who believe in Christ and serve him know the Spirit, because 
he is present with them, bringing them fuller knowledge and 
fuller power to receive him. Thus our Lord's departure 
would not leave his disciples orphans, for he comes to them, 
makes them share his new life, and abides with them. 
Through the Holy Spirit he is as truly present with them 
now as when he companied with his apostles during his 
earthly life. This manifestation of the Father and the Son 



154 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

through the Holy Spirit is granted to those who love the Lord 
and keep his commandments. 

When the Comforter should come, our Lord further 
promised, he would teach the disciples, interpreting to them 
the true character of Christ, and recalling his teaching to 
them. This was highly needful, for while the revelation 
given in Christ is perfect and complete, without the gradual 
illumination of the Holy Spirit it is partly unintelligible and 
partly unobserved. Much that our Lord said and did was 
not understood by the apostles at the time, and much was 
not clearly remembered for a while. But when the Holy 
Spirit came their minds were enlightened to remember and 
understand. The word " Comforter" is a translation of 
"Paraclete," which may also be rendered Advocate or Helper. 
It means one who is called to the side of another to counsel, 
support or aid him. "To comfort" formerly had the same 
meaning as "to strengthen." And so the name " Comforter " 
does not so much imply that the Holy Spirit consoles us, as 
that he comes to strengthen us, and exert a supreme moral 
power in the life of the Church and of the individual. These 
points, at least, in our Bible lesson may be brought out. 

The main thought to be emphasized is that the Holy 
Ghost takes our Lord's place with his disciples, now that our 
Lord has ascended to heaven; he is Christ's substitute and 
representative on earth, his Vicar. This is plain from our 
Lord's saying, in our text, "I will send him unto you," and 
from verses 16 and 26 of our Bible lesson, where he says the 
Father will send at his request "another" Comforter, and 
will send him "in my name." Cp. John xvi. 13, 14. But 
the Holy Ghost takes the place of Christ only in order that 
through his working Christ and the Father may dwell in 
our hearts. Our Lord said he would come to his disciples 
and be in them; the Comforter would come, and abide with 
them forever; the Father as well as the Son would come 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



155 



to abide with them. These sayings, at first sight contradic- 
tory, teach us the harmonious, undivided action of the one 
God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the heart of the 
believer. "In the coming of the Spirit the Son too was to 
come; in the coming of the Son, also the Father." Thus the 
truth that the Holy Ghost takes the place of our ascended 
Lord makes more real to us the truth that our Saviour is 
even now with us; for we learn from his promise of the 
Comforter this at least, that he sends a mighty spiritual 
Power into men's hearts, who causes him and the Father to 
abide there. 

The Holy Spirit was partly made known through the Old 
Testament revelation and through his presence with 
Jesus Christ during his life on earth. 

A definite promise that the Holy Spirit would come in full 
measure upon the faithful was given by our Lord just 
before his crucifixion. 

The Holy Spirit, our Lord said, would teach his disciples 
to remember and understand what he had made known, 
and would give them strength. 

The Holy Spirit is the Vicar of Christ, taking the place of 
the ascended Lord with the faithful on earth, and caus- 
ing Christ and the Father to dwell with them. 

The next lesson tells us of the fulfilment of our Lord's 
promise in the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. 



I S 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

LESSON 35 
THE COMING OF THE HOLY GHOST 

Review. Our Lord promised his apostles just before his 
death that he would send the Comforter to take his place. 

Text, Acts v. 32. Bible lesson. Acts ii. 1 to 12 — Epistle 
for Whitsunday. 

After the resurrection our Lord communicated his Spirit 
to the apostles; "he breathed on them, and said unto them, 
Receive ye the Holy Ghost." — John xx. 22. But he also 
bade them wait for the full outpouring of the Spirit after he 
was ascended. — Luke xxiv. 49, Acts i. 4, 5, 8. For the gift 
of the Holy Spirit in full measure depends upon our Lord's 
ascension and presence in heaven. — John vii. 39, xvi. 7, 
Acts ii. 33 . Ten days after our Lord's ascension, his promise 
that the Comforter should come was fulfilled. The disciples 
were all gathered together on the day of Pentecost, one of 
the three great festivals of the Jews. Cp. Levit. xxiii. 15 
to 22. Suddenly the sound as of a great gale came to their 
ears, and they saw tongues as of flame darting hither and 
thither and then resting upon the heads of them all. These 
signs would no doubt remind them that our Lord had 
compared the Spirit's coming to the wind's blowing where 
it will, and would recall the Baptist's prophecy that Christ 
would baptize his disciples "with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire." — John iii. 7, 8, Matt. iii. 11. The sound filling the 
whole house signified that the power of the Holy Spirit would 
fill the whole Church; and the "tongues distributing them- 
selves," as "cloven tongues" should be translated, one 
resting on the head of each disciple, signified that the Holy 
Spirit divides his gifts to every man individually as he will. 
It was evident that a new departure in God's dealings with 



COD THE HOLV GHOST 



157 



mankind had begun, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, 
who had come to dwell with the faithful. This the disciples 
felt, and they began to pour forth praises to God. When 
the sound of the mighty wind was heard, a crowd gathered, 
made up of men from widely different parts of the world 
who were at Jerusalem for the festival; and, whatever their 
language, they heard the disciples speak of the mighty works 
of God. In this gift of tongues we may see a sign that all 
races of men are to be brought into Christ's Church through 
the power of his Holy Spirit. 

The sound passed, the fiery tongues disappeared, the gift 
of speaking so as to be understood by men of foreign speech 
ceased; but the presence of the Holy Spirit with the disciples 
remained, and was manifested in ways no less real though less 
striking. Contrast the power, wisdom and courage shown 
by them, and notably by the apostles, with their hesitation, 
doubts, failure to understand their Master's words, before 
the Holy Ghost came upon them. They became brave and 
faithful witnesses for Christ. See their courageous words 
in our text, spoken before the council which had brought 
about their Master's death. The Holy Spirit strengthened 
and enlightened them so that they were fully equipped for 
their great work of making the Gospel known throughout 
the world. 

Christ's promise, as we saw, was that another Comforter 
should take his place. Only a divine being could take the 
place of our Lord. And his whole way of speaking of the 
Holy Spirit, and his linking together the threefold Name 
in his command about Baptism, imply that the Spirit, equally 
with the Father and the Son, is divine. When the Spirit was 
given at Pentecost, the disciples could not fail to see that he 
is the Spirit of God, just as the prophets in old times knew 
that they were moved by "the Spirit of the Lord." Ac- 
cordingly we too believe him to be divine, as the Father 



i58 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



and the Lord Jesus Christ are divine, and confess our faith 
in him as ' ' the Lord. ' ' And the phrase, ' ' who with the Father 
and the Son together is worshiped and glorified," expresses 
more fully our belief that the Holy Spirit is truly God. For 
God alone may be worshiped; the best of men, the highest 
of archangels, the mightiest natural or spiritual powers, 
never. Belief in the Holy Spirit as truly God should have 
the practical result that we pray to him, as in the Litany, 
and rely upon his help. 

In accordance with our Lord's promise the Holy Spirit was 

poured upon the disciples at Pentecost. 
The coming of the Holy Spirit strengthened and illuminated 

the disciples for their work of making the Gospel known 

throughout the world. 
The Holy Spirit, who takes Christ's place and strengthens 

his disciples, is the Spirit of Christ and of God, the 

divine Lord, whom with the Father and the Son we 

worship. 

The next lesson tells us of the abiding presence of the Holy 
Spirit with the Church and the evident manifestations of his 
power during the early days described in the New Testament. 
For further instances of his presence and power see Acts 
ix. 17, xiii. 9 to 13, Rom. xv. 19, Acts xi. 28, xx. 23, xxi. 4, 
9 to 11, Mark xiii. 11. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 159 



LESSON 36 

THE MANIFESTATION OF THE HOLY GHOST IN THE 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH 

Review. The Holy Spirit was poured forth upon the 
disciples at Pentecost, and made known by outward signs 
and by inward power as the Spirit of God, the divine Lord 
to whom we may pray for strength and guidance. 

Text, Acts iv. 3 1 . Bible lessons: Acts viii. 14 to 18 — Epistle 
for Tuesday in Whitsun-week; 1 Cor. xii. 8 to 12 — last part 
of Epistle for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. 

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost marked a new 
departure in God's dealings with mankind, as did the coming 
of Jesus Christ on the first Christmas-day. Just as truly as 
God was with his chosen people in Old Testament times, 
and just as truly as our Lord was with his disciples during 
his earthly life, the Holy Spirit has been with the Church 
and the faithful since the day of Pentecost. He is not seen 
and heard as the Saviour was while he was among men, 
but his presence is made known no less truly. And during 
the early days of the Church, described in the Acts and 
alluded to in the Epistles, his presence was shown by plain 
signs well known to all Christians. The Acts is the story 
of his sanctifying work, as the Gospels are the story of Christ's 
redemptive work; only, as the work of the Holy Spirit goes 
on now and will continue until Christ comes again, the story 
of it is only begun in the Acts. 

We saw in lesson 29 that when the good news of Christ's 
resurrection was preached to Cornelius and his friends the 
Holy Ghost fell upon them all. His coming upon them was 
made manifest because they spoke with tongues and mag- 



^o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

nified God. — Acts x. 44 to end, last part of Epistle for Mon- 
day in Whitsun-week. In our first Bible lesson, again, we 
read of the giving of the Holy Ghost to people in Samaria. 
The gospel message had been brought to them, they had 
been baptized, and then two of the apostles came down 
from Jerusalem and laid their hands on them, and they 
received the Holy Ghost. Cp. Acts xix. 1 to 7. 

The coming of the Holy Ghost upon believers was often 
accompanied in the New Testament days by the bestowal 
of spiritual gifts and powers, such as St. Paul enumerates in 
our second Bible lesson. Among Christian believers there 
were some who had through the Spirit the power to set forth 
Christian truth, and that, too, with wisdom or insight into its 
deepest meanings. Others possessed a high degree of faith, 
the effects of which were the healing of the sick, the working 
of miracles, the power of prophetic speech, flowing from in- 
spiration, and the ability to discern whether the Spirit of 
Christ were really present in anyone who claimed to be under 
his guidance. Again, some had the gift of ecstatic prayer 
and praise, or of interpreting to the congregation the utter- 
ances of others who were deeply moved by the Holy Spirit. 
(This gift of speaking with tongues seems to be distinct from 
that described as given at Pentecost.) But all these gifts, 
well known and actually observable, came from the one 
Holy Spirit; they were not mere wonders, but were signs 
manifesting his presence and his nature. That he was 
present with the apostles in a special way, we may add, was 
impressively proved by the fate of Ananias and Sapphira. — 
Acts v. 1 to 12. For when they tried to practise a deception 
upon the apostles they perished miserably, as persons who 
had attempted to deceive the Holy Spirit, and therefore had 
lied to God. 

The Holy Ghost was further manifested by deep spiritual 
results in the whole life of the apostles and brethren. Our 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 161 

text shows that they told with high courage the good news 
of Christ risen, as appears more clearly when the whole story 
of Acts iv. is read; and this is only one instance among the 
many recorded of their faithfulness in proclaiming their 
message. Moreover there was a new sense of brotherhood 
among the whole body of Christians, which showed itself 
in very practical forms of mutual helpfulness and self- 
sacrificing devotion to the common cause. — Acts iv. 32 to 36. 
And they possessed a wonderful joy and inward peace even 
in the midst of persecutions. — Acts xiii. 52, 1 Pet. i. 6 to 10, 
Phil. iv. 7, Gal. v. 22. It is also to be noticed that the 
apostles were definitely conscious of being guided by the 
Holy Spirit in their work of spreading Christ's Gospel. — 
Acts viii. 29, x. 19, 20, xiii. 2, 4, xv. 28, xvi. 6, 7. 

Thus the presence of the Holy Ghost was a fact in the 
daily life of the New Testament Church, known experi- 
mentally and practically. As God the Father was made 
known by his just and loving control of his people's destiny, 
and the Son by his redemptive work, so the Holy Spirit 
was made known by his abiding presence and power shown 
in great outward results, and inwardly witnessed to by the 
new life and joy of the believer. Accordingly Christians have 
seen from the earliest days that the Holy Spirit is a Person, 
even as the Father and the Son are Persons. Cp. pages 25, 26. 
Consequently we express in the Creeds our belief in him just 
as distinctly as in the Father and the Son. We also confess 
our belief that there is an eternal essential relation of the 
three Persons in the unity of the Holy Trinity. As we 
say of God the Son that he is "begotten of the Father," 
so we express the eternal relation of God the Holy Spirit to 
the Holy Trinity by saying of him that he "proceedeth from 
the Father and the Son." This makes the truth of his per- 
sonality more explicit, as well as his divinity. It is of deep 
importance that we should know the Holy Spirit to be a 



1 62 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

divine Person and not a mere influence or vague power. 
He is our personal Friend, who comes to abide in our hearts, 
who is grieved by wrongdoing (Ephes. iv. 30), who will not 
remain if we drive him from us by wilful, persistent sin, to 
whom we can pray, in whose strength we can live aright. 

We live under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, which 

began with his coming on the day of Pentecost. 
When the Holy Spirit was given in New Testament days 

by the laying on of the apostles' hands, his presence was 

shown by evident effects in those who received him. 
The Holy Spirit gave many gifts and powers to the faithful 

by which his presence and nature were made known. 
He guided and strengthened the apostles and other disciples 

in their work, and gave them inward joy and peace. 
His presence as a fact of daily life made them sure that he is 

a divine Person, a Friend who dwells in the faithful to 

guide and sustain them. 

The next lesson reminds us that the work of the Holy 
Ghost continues now among all who will yield themselves 
to him. The teacher should carefully consider Rom. viii. 
12 to 18, Epistle for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity; Ephes. 
iii. 13 to end, Epistle for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity; 
Titus iii. 3 to 8. Such hymns as 76 and 375 may be used 
with advantage. 

LESSON 37 

THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST IN OUR HEARTS 

Review. The presence of the Holy Spirit was a fact of 
daily life to the Christians of New Testament days, and the 
manner in which it was shown clearly revealed him as a 
Person. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



163 



Text, Rom. v. 5. Bible lesson, Gal. v. 16 to 25 — Epistle 
for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. 

Everyone " believes in a good heart," as a popular phrase 
has it; but the important question for everyone is, how it is 
possible to have a good heart. For it is not always easy to 
know what our duty is, so that we perceive just what we ought 
to do under given circumstances; well-meaning people often 
make lamentable mistakes. And even when we know what 
is right, to do right is not easy. It is one thing to delight 
in the law of God, another to have that law working in our 
hearts and not the law of sin. Cp. Rom. vii. 18, 19. Even 
before Christ came into the world, men knew what God's 
law is, for it had been given through Moses and preached 
by the prophets; and when Christ came he taught us fully 
what we ought to do and gave us a perfect example. But 
where are we to find strength to follow him? Everyone 
finds by experience a powerful inclination to do wrong. 
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit," our natural desires 
would make us yield to temptations; "so that we cannot do 
the things that we would," the things to which our conscience 
prompts. We do not wish to be led away into the works of 
the flesh that St. Paul enumerates in our Bible lesson, sins 
against self, God and man, and to become unfit for the king- 
dom of heaven; but temptations are strong, and through our 
lower natures they find a ready entrance into our very hearts. 

But it is a matter of Christian experience that the Holy 
Spirit helps us to see our duty and to overcome evil. Our 
Lord, who understands our temptations, did not come merely 
to tell us our duty and to set us an example, and then go away 
and leave us to struggle against sin without help. Every 
faithful Christian knows that he can learn to see his duty 
more clearly, can make headway against evil, and grow 
toward the pattern of Christ, through the power of the Holy 



1 64 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

Spirit whom Christ sends. Therefore St. Paul appeals to 
abiding facts of Christian experience when he speaks of the 
fruit of the Spirit. His enumeration of the results which 
flow from the power of the Holy Spirit falls into three parts. 
First, there are characteristics of the Christian in his inter- 
course with God, the love, joy and peace which are the 
immediate outcome of faith in God. Secondly, there are 
characteristics of the Christian's bearing toward his fellow- 
men, namely: longsuffering, or patient endurance under 
injuries; gentleness, or a kindly disposition; goodness, or 
active beneficence, which uses every opportunity for helping 
others; and faithfulness, or trustworthiness. Thirdly, there 
are characteristics of the Christian life with reference to self, 
meekness, or a due estimate of the place which self should 
occupy, and self-control, or the rigorous determination that 
self shall be kept in its place. Such qualities are fruits of 
the Spirit, seen in the lives of faithful Christians, which grow 
not from self but from the indwelling power of God. 

It follows that the Christian who desires goodness in heart 
and life, who knows the deadly feud in himself between good 
and evil, and who observes the lives of those who are led by 
the Spirit, believes in the Holy Ghost as "the Giver of life." 
Through his life-giving presence it is possible to have a good 
heart. From him comes power to change from an evil to a 
good life, to overcome temptations, to do our duty, to bear 
our crosses, to grow in grace toward the perfect example of 
Christ. The working of the Holy Spirit is as quiet as that 
of the sunlight on grain and trees, but it is mighty, and 
causes men to grow toward righteousness. As at the creation, 
when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, 
light and life were brought forth, so now all spiritual knowl- 
edge and life come from him. He brings spiritual order 
and harmony out of the chaotic world of sin. His influence 
is not forced upon men, and it spreads only as men will 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 165 

receive him; consequently it vanquishes evil very gradually. 
But a new life does show itself as Christianity spreads and 
leavens the nations to which it comes. The manifestations 
of this new life are less striking now than in early days, but 
the life is none the less real because it is unseen except in quiet, 
beneficent workings. And it is to be seen all around and 
within us, so that each teacher ought to be able to illustrate 
this truth by definite instances, drawn from reading about 
Christian lives and from personal observation and inner 
experience of the Holy Spirit's help. His work in our hearts 
is a daily, present reality. The practical lesson which St. 
Paul urges is that the one great aim of Christians must be 
to advance in the life of the Spirit. They who are Christ's 
have crucified the passions and lusts of their lower nature. 
They are dead to the flesh and live to the Spirit. Therefore 
they should make their conduct conform to the new life 
which they possess. The fruit of the Spirit is to be seen 
growing, but it is far from perfection. The life described 
is a state which the Christian has been put in the way of 
attaining rather than one to which he has attained. But 
since we have this new life, we must strive to allow it full 
development. 

We wish to do right, and find our own wisdom and strength 
insufficient to perceive, still less to do, what we ought. 

But the Holy Spirit aids us, so that the lives of faithful Chris- 
tians grow toward the pattern of Christ. 

Because of his life-giving power, described in the Scriptures 
and seen now in its workings, we believe in him as the 
Giver of Life. 

The next lesson is about one of the greatest works of the 
Holy Spirit, the Bible inspired by him. It has been found 
necessary to base this lesson on a number of scattered verses 



166 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

of the Bible, which should all be read by each pupil. The 
teacher is advised to read Gore, The Creed of the Christian, 
sections on "The Bible in the Church" and "The Inspira- 
tion of Scripture," and Satterlee, New Testament Church- 
manship, Chapter x. 



LESSON 38 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES 

Review. The Holy Spirit aids us to see and to do our 
duty, bringing forth in our hearts the fruits of peace and 
righteousness, and so manifests himself continually as the 
Giver of Life. 

Text, 2 St. Peter i. 21. Bible lessons: (a) Heb. i. 1 — first 
verse of first Epistle for Christmas-day; (b) Rom. xv. 4 — 
first verse of Epistle for the Second Sunday in Advent; 
(c) 2 Tim. iii. 14 to end (not in the Prayer Book); (d) St. 
John xiv. 26 — in Gospel for Whitsunday. 

In previous lessons we have seen that God revealed his 
nature and will through the prophets (page 59); that the 
coming of the Messiah was foretold by them (page 81); and 
that our Lord, after he rose from the dead, showed his dis- 
ciples how both his sufferings and his resurrection had been 
predicted (pages 128 and 130). Our first Bible reference for 
this lesson (a) tells us that through the prophets God spoke 
to men in old times by piecemeal and after many fashions, 
and so prepared for the coming of his Son. And if we read 
their writings, we find the prophets were conscious that they 
spoke not of themselves but from God. Cp. Isa. vi. 5 to 9, 
viii. 11, xxi. 10, xxii. 14; Jer. i. 4 to 10; Ezek. iii. 10 to 15; 
Amos vii. 15. Thus we can readily see, both from what our 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST ^7 

Lord and his apostles say of them and from their writings, 
that the prophets were men who had a divine message. 

This is true also of the writers of the Psalms and the Old 
Testament history. For the Psalms are full of a devotion 
and a trustful dependence upon God which makes them 
voice the thought of devout and faithful people everywhere. 
And the historical books view all events as governed by 
God the all-wise and righteous. We should especially notice, 
moreover, that all the Scriptures, not the prophetic books 
alone, prepared for the coming of Christ. Cp. Luke xxiv. 
27, 44. This is affirmed in (b) our second reference, which 
follows the quotation of a verse from the Psalms as applying 
to our Lord. In it St. Paul asserts that the Old Testament 
Scriptures were written for the instruction of all believers, 
and establish the hope which arises from trust in Christ. 
Furthermore we are told (c) of all the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures that they are "inspired of God." 

This third Bible passage tells us further what the Scrip- 
tures are for; they are "profitable for teaching, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness"; that is, 
they are to be read for the upbuilding of our moral character. 
Compare our Lord's language concerning the moral com- 
mandments of the old law in St. Mark vii. 13, where he calls 
it "the word of God," and in St. Matt. v. 17, 18, where he 
says he came not to destroy but to fulfil the law. In brief, 
the great moral and spiritual truths of all the Old Testament 
have permanent value, and help to make the believer "com- 
plete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 

That the inspiration of the Old Testament was specifically 
the work of the Holy Spirit is plain from what the prophets 
say of the Spirit of the Lord. And this is expressly stated in 
our text, "no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but 
men spake from God, being moved (or, borne along) by the 
Holy Ghost," as it may be translated. They "spoke from 



^8 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

God," as with the voice of God, being sent by him. They 
were "borne along" by the Holy Spirit in giving their mes- 
sage, as a ship is carried onward by the wind. Accordingly 
we believe that the Holy Ghost " spake by the prophets," 
and inspired, no less, all the Old Testament writers. 

Our conviction that the New Testament is inspired rests 
first upon our Lord's promise (d) that the Holy Spirit would 
teach his disciples "all things," and recall to their minds all 
he had taught. With this we should compare his promise 
in St. John xvi. 13. These verses make two points clear. 
First, the Holy Spirit would quicken the disciples' minds to 
remember rightly what the Master had said and done. 
Secondly, he would enlighten their minds to understand the 
full significance of all Christ said and did, and interpret 
rightly who he is, and what the meaning is of his work for 
men. This is indicated in our Lord's saying that the Holy 
Spirit would come in his name, and would not speak for him- 
self. His work is to bring home to men the whole of our 
Lord's teaching. He would teach them "all things" that 
belong to their work and life in Christ, and lead them into 
"all the truth" revealed in Christ. It is not promised that 
universal knowledge on all subjects would be imparted, but 
that the message given in Christ's historical human life 
would be interpreted by the Holy Spirit. 

The Gospels are the outcome of the Holy Spirit's work 
in recalling Christ's whole revelation to the disciples; the 
Epistles, of his work in teaching them to understand and 
apply it rightly. We have only to read them to see that our 
Lord's promise was richly fulfilled. Such sober and carefully 
honest accounts as the Gospels give of stupendous events 
and profound teaching could not have been written without 
the Holy Spirit's guidance. And such wise exposition and 
application of the truth to the needs of that age and of all 
future time as the Epistles contain must have been due to 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



169 



his inspiring power. The book of the Acts, like the Gospels, 
bears every mark of sober-mindedness and of insight into the 
significance of the events recorded. And the Revelation is 
plainly a prophetic work. We can see furthermore that the 
apostles were conscious of teaching and writing under the 
Holy Spirit's guidance. Cp. 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5; Ephes. iii. 3, 
5; 1 Thess. ii. 13; Rev. i. 10, ii. 7. This special guidance 
is to be thought of in connection with the active presence 
and power of the Holy Spirit which was so abundantly and 
variously manifested in the New Testament Church (cp. 
lesson 36), and which began to be shown in prophecy when 
Christ was about to be born (cp. page 153). The New 
Testament therefore is one great result of the Holy Spirit's 
presence in full measure in the Christian Church, and we 
may be sure that these precious writings are due to his 
inspiration. 

That the Bible is the inspired word of God is a certain 
truth. Theories as to the nature of inspiration, however, 
may easily become mechanical, and assert more than is 
warrantable. To speak of the Scriptures as verbally in- 
spired and infallible, in the sense that every word should be 
taken literally, or that they may be used, for instance, to 
prove or disprove scientific truths, is to go beyond what they 
say of themselves, and to lay stumbling-blocks in the pathway 
of faith. Our effort should rather be to teach the children 
that the Bible is the inspired record of God's revelation, 
which culminates in Jesus Christ, and that it is given to us 
for our spiritual needs. It may be well, however, to suggest 
two thoughts which will perhaps help them in later life to 
develop true ideas of the Bible and to value it as they should. 
First, inspiration means, "a breathing into," and this im- 
plies persons. It means that the Holy Spirit has breathed 
into the hearts and minds of certain men and thereby given 
them an insight into divine truth. It is because the writers 



l 7 o BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

of the Scriptures are inspired that we call the Bible inspired, 
although that term cannot in the strictest sense be applied 
to a book, but only to persons. The inspiration of the writ- 
ers, however, makes the Bible a perfectly true and adequate 
account of the nature of God, of man's real nature, and of 
the way in which God deals with man in order to raise his 
nature to its true ideal; it makes the Bible a sure guide in 
all principles of religion and morals.* Secondly, the Bible 
has its human as well as its divine side. It was written 
by real, living men who used the language, style and manner 
of thought of their own times. Thus the psalmists used the 
meters and figures of speech natural to the Hebrew language; 
the prophets preached against the wrong-doing they saw 
about them, proclaimed God's will as it applied to the circum- 
stances of their day, and looked forward from the standpoint 
of their times in foretelling what should come to pass; the 
Gospels have a simplicity and plainness that was natural in 
their authors; and the letters of the apostles deal in the first 
instance with questions of faith and duty that were actually 
pressing in the communities to which they were written. 
The Bible is an intensely human book, full of the experience 
of real men, and this makes it appeal strongly to all hearts. 
The human nature of the writers is not destroyed, any more 
than Christ's human nature was by his divine nature; but 
men, continuing still to be real men with their individual 
peculiarities and even limitations, were moved to see and to 
record God's truth by the Holy Spirit's breathing into their 
hearts. 

Through the prophets God spoke to men and prepared for 

the coming of his Son. 
The writers of the Psalms and of the Old Testament his- 

* Lock, "Why do we call the Bible inspired?" Oxford House 
Papers, first series. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST l7l 

tories had likewise a divine message, and helped to 
make ready the way of Christ. 

All the Old Testament is of permanent value in setting 
before us great moral and spiritual truths. 

Our Lord promised that the Holy Ghost would quicken his 
disciples' memories, and give them understanding con- 
cerning all his revelation. 

The New Testament is one great result of the Holy Spirit's 
presence in the Church according to Christ's promise. 

Inspiration means the breathing of the Holy Spirit into the 
hearts of real, living men, who were thereby given power 
truly to see and to record the revelation of God, which 
culminated in Jesus Christ. 

The next lesson considers the Church as being, like the 
Bible, a result of the Holy Spirit's operation. The great 
society founded by Jesus Christ, composed of all the baptized 
throughout the world, apostolic in faith and organization, 
is likened by St. Paul to a body of which Christ is the head 
and his people are the members, all one in him. In this 
Body of Christ the Holy Spirit dwells, making it holy. The 
teacher should read Satterlee, New Testament Churchman- 
ship, Chapter vi.; and should compare with our Bible lessons 
St. John xv. i to 13, Gospel for St. Mark's Day; Ephes. 
iv. 15, 16, in Epistle for St. Mark's Day; and 1 Cor. xii. 
The figure of the body and members should be used as the 
basis for the lesson, and should be carefully studied and 
applied. 



!f 2 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



LESSON 39 

THE CHURCH; ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND 
APOSTOLIC 

Review. The Holy Scriptures of both the Old and the 
New Testament are a great work of the Holy Spirit, open to 
us all, in which the revelation of God, culminating in Christ's 
Incarnation, can be studied, and which we can use for the 
moral and spiritual upbuilding of our lives. 

Text, Col. i. 18. Bible lessons: Ephes. iv. i to 7 — Epistle 
for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity; Rom. xii. 4, 5 — 
last part of Epistle for the First Sunday after the Epiphany. 

We have seen in lesson 37 that the inner life of the in- 
dividual Christian depends upon the Holy Spirit. We have 
now to consider that the individual truly lives only as a 
member of the great Body which is animated and made 
one by the Spirit of Christ; and that the same divine Person 
who sanctifies each Christian sustains the common life which 
fills the whole Church. This is recognized when we confess 
our belief concerning the holy Catholic Church in connection 
with our belief in the Holy Spirit; for thereby we show that 
we believe the Church has a permanent life because we 
believe in him, the Giver of Life. Conversely, the present 
vitality of the Church throughout the world and its past 
history bear witness, in spite of human failings and sins, 
to the Holy Spirit, "by whom the whole Church is governed 
and sanctified." 

To understand rightly how we ought to believe and act 
concerning the Church, of which we were made members 
in Baptism, we should first observe how St. Paul describes 
it as one. Imprisoned in consequence of zeal for Christ 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



173 



and his Church, St. Paul writes to his people in Ephesus, 
urging them to a true Christian life on the ground that they 
possess the inestimable privileges of redemption through 
Christ's death and resurrection and of membership in his 
Church. Cp. Ephes. i. 18 to end. In the passage chosen 
for our first Bible lesson he beseeches them to act as becomes 
their Christian calling, earnestly striving to maintain the 
unity which is wrought by the Holy Spirit, and the peace 
which is the condition and mark of his presence with the 
Church. There is, he says, one body; that is, all Christians 
form one organic whole, though they are individually many, 
with varying gifts and powers and with differing positions 
and duties in the Church. And there is one Spirit, who 
dwells in and vivifies that body. Likewise there is one 
hope to which all are pressing forward. Furthermore this 
unity depends upon the living existence of the one Lord, 
Jesus Christ, whom all believers apprehend by one common 
faith, and to whom they are joined by Baptism. And finally 
this actual union of all Christians is traced back to its ultimate 
source, the one God and Father of all. Since there is this 
real and vital union of all Christians with one another in 
consequence of their union with God, the Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, we can see that we ought all to recognize 
thankfully our privilege of membership in the Church, and 
make the utmost use of it for our spiritual growth. Con- 
tinuing in that holy fellowship, we must be careful to do all 
in our power to preserve and strengthen the harmony of 
the Christian body, lest we hinder the unifying work of the 
Holy Spirit. "With all lowliness" we must be ready to 
put self in a lower place (verses 2, 3); with all " meekness" 
we must avoid being opinionated and brusque, keeping a 
quiet friendliness when differences threaten to arise; "with 
longsuffering " we must bear with our fellow - Christians, 
though they wrong us; we must show forbearance, remem- 



iy 4 BIBLE XESSONS ON THE CREED 

bering that others have to bear with us no less than we 
with them; and that, too, "in love," not as though we did not 
care whether a brother had faults or not, but as bearing even 
with his faults because we love him. This applies in the 
most practical way to the life of every Christian as a member 
of his parish and of the whole great Church. 

Our second Bible lesson begins with a practical exhorta- 
tion; each Christian should be content with his proper place 
and functions, cultivating modesty, sobermindedness and 
good judgment. And why? Because all belong as a matter 
of actual fact to a great society, which is a single body having 
many members all related to one another, and the unity 
of this body is found in Christ. In this organism or corpor- 
ate body each person ought to live and work in his proper 
place, using whatever powers he may have for the good of 
the whole, just as in a human body each of the many members, 
hand, foot, eye or tongue, has its special work and is needed 
by the whole body. Cp. i Cor. xii. 

In some passages, again, St. Paul compares Christ to the 
head and individual Christians to members of a body, as in 
our text and in Col. ii. 19. And this makes our duty plain 
of holding fast to him who supplies and controls the spiritual 
life and activity of all Christians. For otherwise we shall 
be like severed parts of a body, or like branches lopped off 
from a vine (John xv. 1 to 12), which are useless, dead, fit 
only to be buried or burned. We cannot expect to have 
Christ's life within us or the sanctifying power of the Holy 
Spirit, if we cut ourselves off from the active fellowship of 
Christ's Church. It is evident from the passages quoted 
that the Church is a society founded not by men but by Jesus 
Christ. It is not merely an organization held together 
simply because it has certain common interests and aims, 
certain officers and forms of government; but it is a living 
organism, which has a real relation to the ascended Lord, 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST ^5 

and in which his Holy Spirit dwells. And our Lord, who 
founded this visible society on earth and appointed leaders, 
the apostles, would have men not only believe in him, but 
also become members of his society by Baptism, share in its 
spiritual life, and do its work. 

We can now see more clearly why we believe the Church to 
be one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, as we confess that it 
is in the Creeds. It is one, because there can be but one 
Body when there is but one Head, one life-giving Spirit, 
one God upon whom all depend, one faith, one way of en- 
trance by Baptism. And our Lord himself prayed that all 
might be one. — John xvii. 20, 21. Christians may, indeed, 
organize themselves into different groups and call themselves 
by different names, as Baptists, Methodists, and the like; 
but Christ has only one Church, to which all the baptized 
rightly belong. Or the Roman Catholics may set up doc- 
trines, worship and ecclesiastical government which are not 
according to the commands of Christ and his apostles, but 
they cannot really unchurch those who are Christ's. Again, 
the Church is holy, because it is made up of people who are 
set apart to God, who are, in St. Paul's language, " saints" 
by virtue of their admission into the Church. It remains 
for them to make their profession a reality, to become more 
like God, to whom they have been consecrated. Christ 
warned us that there would be many evil people in his Church, 
whom he likens to tares in the field and to bad fishes in 
a net. — Matt. xiii. 24 to 31, 36 to 44, 47 to 51. These at the 
last will be cast out from all share in the kingdom. Never- 
theless all are meant to be holy, and the Church is holy as 
being the Body of Christ and the sphere of the Holy Spirit's 
activity. Catholic means universal, or, more literally, ac- 
cording to the whole. And the Church is Catholic because 
it is meant for all men in all times; it is not for one nation or 
people, as the Old Testament Church was for the Jews alone, 



I7 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

but is adaptable to all races and times. Moreover, the 
Church holds fast to the truth once for all made known in 
Jesus Christ, as held by the Church in all parts of the world 
and from the earliest times, neither adding to nor taking away 
from that which has been received from the Founder; and 
so it is Catholic in faith and worship. Accordingly it is 
Catholic in its practical operation and results, since all 
graces are given in it, all diseases of the soul are healed, all 
spiritual virtues are imparted, and all the words and works 
and thoughts of men are regulated, till we become perfect men 
in Christ Jesus.* Finally, the Church is apostolic, because 
it is identical with the primitive Church of the apostles, by 
unbroken descent from Christ himself. And this is manifest 
in the Creeds, Scriptures, Sacraments and apostolic Orders of 
our Church to-day. Since the Church is for all men, and since 
it is built upon the apostles, who were sent forth to "make 
disciples of all nations," it is in its very nature missionary. 

Our Christian life is lived in membership with the Church 
of Christ, which is made one and made holy by the in- 
dwelling power of the Holy Ghost. 

St. Paul urges Christians to maintain unity and harmony, 
because they are all members of one Body, in which the 
Holy Spirit dwells. 

And again he urges us to do our work for Christ each in 
his own place in the Church, just as the many different 
parts of our bodies do their own work for the whole. 

The Church is likened to a body of which Christ is the head. 
It is, then, not an organization established by men, but 
a divine society or organism founded by our Lord. 

There is, accordingly, but one Church, and it is holy, Catholic 
and apostolic. 

* Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, article ix. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 177 

The next lesson considers another aspect of the truth 
that all members of Christ are one in him through the sancti- 
fying power of the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes the fellowship 
that exists among all Christians, which ought to be recog- 
nized by all in thought and deed, and the union of all who 
are still upon earth, fighting Christ's battle against sin, with 
all those who, having gone before us, enjoy the triumph of 
the Church above. The lesson is based upon other com- 
parisons made by St. Paul, in which he likens the Church to 
a state or a family, or to a building or a holy temple, of 
which Jesus Christ is the corner-stone. These figures may 
be so developed in teaching as to give a concrete, pictorial 
basis for the lesson, especially if they are introduced by a story 
of some particular building, some particular man's gaining 
citizenship, or the like. 



LESSON 40 
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 

Review. The Church is the Body of Christ, a society 
founded by him, in which the Holy Spirit dwells; and of this 
Body all we who are baptized are members, drawing our life 
from our union with the Head, and having each his own place 
and work in the Body. 

Text, Col. i. 12. Bible lesson, Ephes. ii. 19 to end — 
Epistle for St. Thomas's Day. 

The unity and fellowship of all Christians is set forth 
under two different comparisons in our Bible lesson. First, 
the enjoyment of Christian privileges is likened to that which 
a citizen possesses in being a full member of a common- 
wealth, and to that which a member of a household enjoys 
in belonging to a family. We may illustrate St. Paul's 



i 7 8 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



meaning by likening our position as "fellow-citizens with 
the saints " to that of a man who has the full rights of citizen- 
ship, and contrasting it with the position of a man who has 
come to our land, but belongs to some other country and 
has not yet become an American citizen. All who become 
Christians, no matter what their race or worldly position, 
are received into the full citizenship of God's kingdom. 
Yes, and our union with our heavenly Father, and so with 
one another, may be likened to a nearer relationship than that 
of citizens, for we are not like orphans or outcasts, but are 
of the household or family of God. This thought we may 
develop and apply by considering how in the Church we are 
taught through the Bible, the Creeds and the Catechism, 
and are nourished through the Holy Communion, and how 
all our spiritual needs are considered in the Prayer Book, 
which provides both for daily worship in public and in the 
family, and for all the important occasions of life from 
Baptism to Burial. 

A second comparison likens all Christians to the stones of 
a great building, of which the foundation-stones are the 
apostles and prophets (that is, the New Testament prophets), 
while the corner-stone, upon which the foundation-course 
and the whole building depend, is Christ. Thus all Chris- 
tians form in Christ one great Church. This thought is 
perhaps all that we can use from the latter part of our Bible 
lesson, but there are really two more comparisons, which 
an advanced class, at least, will grasp. In verse 21 St. Paul 
modifies the figure, and says that in Christ every building 
grows into a holy temple. That is, every Christian con- 
gregation grows in an organic religious life toward holiness. 
The members of a parish make up an organism, in which 
the various sides of the religious life develop through the 
harmonious interworking of the several gifts and powers of 
the members. And this organic, spiritual growth is "in 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST I7Q 

the Lord" Jesus Christ, upon whom the unity and holiness 
depend. Cp. i Peter ii. 5. Again in verse 22 the figure 
changes. Each individual Christian is built up through 
Christ to be a dwelling-place of God, just as each 
parish grows into a holy temple. Compare 1 Cor. vi. 19, 
where it is said that the body of each Christian is a temple 
of God. 

Thus it is evident that all Christians form one communion 
and fellowship in the mystical body of Christ, being united 
in him through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is ex- 
pressed in still another way in our text, where we are bidden 
to give thanks to the Father, who has made us capable of 
receiving our portions in the inheritance of the saints. The 
inheritance of the promised land by the chosen people and its 
allotment among them is a type of our sharing in Christ's 
kingdom. As this is a kingdom of light (cp. Col. i. 13), 
the portion of the saints is "in light," and the thought is 
the same as in Col. i. 5, that Christ's people share in "the 
hope which is laid up in heaven." "The saints" is used in 
the Bible not of men individually who are distinguished by 
special merits or holiness, but of a class of men, those who 
were God's people under the Old Covenant, and in the New 
Testament the Church, the holy nucleus of redeemed human- 
ity. For a man's standing in relation to God is not that of 
individual righteousness, but that of a member in a com- 
munity consecrated to a holy life. And so "the communion 
of saints" means the union and fellowship not only of those 
whose lives have been eminently saintly, but also of all who 
are living, faithful members of Christ, however humble and 
unnoticed. 

St. Paul speaks in these passages of the unity among 
Christians here upon earth, and we may well emphasize this 
side of the communion of saints. For if we are all united 
in being children of our heavenly Father, in sharing the sal- 



180 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

vation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ, in possessing the 
help of the Holy Spirit, we ought to feel and act toward our 
fellow-Christians accordingly. To be sure, all men are 
brothers, as being children of the one God and Father of 
all, and we ought to treat all as our neighbors. But just as 
a human society, or a nation, or a family involves close ties 
and particular duties, so we ought to feel bound together with 
all our fellow-Christians by real ties of the closest sort, and 
ought to act toward them with special love and kindness. 
If those who join some human society, some lodge, some 
college fraternity, or the like, recognize that they have special 
duties toward one another, much more ought we to recognize 
our special duties toward our fellow-Christians. 

But the communion of saints is by no means confined to 
those members of Christ who are in this world. We know 
that those who have gone from us are in his keeping, and will 
rise again at the last day. We who are alive belong to that 
part of his one Body which is called the Church militant, 
because it is still fighting his warfare against sin. But all the 
redeemed who have died are alive in paradise, and form 
the Church expectant. Cp. Rev. xiv. 13, which is used in the 
Burial Service. In God's good time all shall live together 
in the Church triumphant. Consequently we do not think of 
the departed as really separated from us, but as being united 
with us by the closest relations in Christ. For the saints in 
paradise are one with the living in being members of the one 
Church of Christ; they hold the same faith, they have lived 
like us the Christian life, and they join in the universal and 
eternal worship of God. Accordingly we keep saints' days 
to commemorate the greatest of the saints, and All Saints' 
Day in remembrance of the blessed company of all the faith- 
ful departed; and we do this in order to remind ourselves of 
the close fellowship existing among all in whom the Holy 
Spirit works to holiness, to stir up in ourselves thankfulness 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST ^i 

for all whom God has saved, to incite us to study and follow 
their good examples, and to raise our thoughts to the un- 
seen world for which we are preparing here. These truths 
ought to rouse us to high faith and to a pure and vigorous 
Christian life, as we are so wonderfully taught in Hebrews 
xi. and xii. And when those whom we love are taken from 
us, we are not " sorry, as men without hope, for those who 
sleep in him" (cp. i Thess. iv. 13 to end), but comfort our- 
selves with the knowledge that we are still united with them 
in Christ. 

The privilege of membership in Christ's Church may be 
likened to that of citizenship and that of membership 
in a family. 

All Christians are like stones in a great building, of which 
the corner-stone is Christ. 

Christians are made capable of inheriting a share with all 
the saints in the kingdom of light. 

Thus there is a close and real union among all Christians 
upon earth, and they ought to act toward one another 
accordingly. 

And the communion of saints likewise embraces all who have 
gone from earth, so that we should follow the pattern 
of their faith and goodness, and find comfort in the 
knowledge that we are one with them in Christ. 

The next lesson, on the forgiveness of sins, brings before 
us the great need of mankind for the revelation of God and 
his righteous will, for the atoning work of Christ and for the 
sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. It helps us to see that 
the Creeds express living truths of the utmost practical im- 
portance for our religious needs. And, rightly taught, this 
lesson should deepen the children's heartfelt faith in God, 
by helping them to feel their personal need of salvation from 



^2 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

sin. To accomplish this the teacher must develop the lesson 
in the manner that his own religious experience and real sense 
of spiritual need suggest. 



LESSON 41 
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 

Review. All the members of Christ are united in him by 
the closest of ties; and this fellowship is a basis for mutual 
love and good works, and a source of the truest comfort 
when we are parted by death from those we love. 

Text, Acts ii. 38. Bible lessons: St. Matt. ix. 1 to 9 — 
Gospel for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity; St. John 
xx. 21 to 24 — last part of Gospel for the First Sunday after 
Easter. 

When we were made members of Christ's Church in Bap- 
tism our sins were washed away, and to this the Creeds par- 
ticularly refer, especially the Nicene Creed, in which we say, 
"I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins." 
This is highly appropriate, inasmuch as the Creed is used at 
Baptism to confess the faith that is required in order to re- 
ceive the remission of sins. Our text shows that a salient 
feature in the preaching of the apostles was the forgiveness 
of sins through Baptism. But we have further need of 
forgiveness for sins committed afterwards. For, although 
every Christian was washed in baptism from all stain of sin 
(1 Cor. vi. 11), and was consecrated to God, no one has 
attained to perfection. Cp. Phil. iii. 12. Each of us must 
press forward in the way of salvation through obstacles and 
with many stumblings. Hence there is constant need of 
forgiveness for sins committed daily. We must not think 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



183 



ourselves righteous like the Pharisee in the parable (Luke 
xviii. 9 to 15 — Gospel for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity), 
or suppose that in doing good we do more than our duty and 
deserve a reward, so that our good deeds merit the forgiveness 
of our sins (Luke xvii. 10). " All have sinned, and fall short 
of the glory of God." — Rom. iii. 23 . Cp. Rom. vi. 23 ; Psalm 
51: 1 to 4, 9 to 13; 1 John i. 8, 9, sentence in Morning 
Prayer. Every Christian ought to be deeply conscious that 
he needs forgiveness. 

Forgiveness, we know (cp. lesson 24), depends upon the 
atoning death of Christ. — Ephes. i. 7. Because our Saviour 
has redeemed us from sin by his sacrifice of himself, he has 
power to forgive us our sins. This he taught when he healed 
the paralyzed man, as we are told in our first Bible lesson. 
When the faith of the man and of his friends was shown by 
their eagerness to reach the Saviour's presence (Luke v. 
18 to 21), our Lord said to him, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." 
And some of the scribes, who were watching for an oppor- 
tunity to oppose him, said to themselves, "He blasphemes. 
Who can forgive sins but God alone?" They recognized 
rightly how tremendous a matter it is to forgive sins, some- 
thing that belongs to God only. But since our Lord is "the 
Son of Man," that is, the Christ, he could forgive sins even 
as his Father can, from whom he has this authority. Cp. 
John v. 25 to 31. Therefore he replied that it is easy to 
say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," or to say to a paralytic, 
"Arise and walk." But, that they might know he spoke 
truly when he said the man was forgiven, though the truth 
of this could not be seen by the eye, he said to the man, 
"Take up thy bed." And when the man arose and walked, 
it was evident that our Lord had the power of healing and 
the even mightier spiritual power to forgive. 

In our second Bible lesson we learn of our Lord's impart- 
ing to his Church the authority to forgive which he possessed 



1 84 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

as the Christ and the risen Saviour. The apostles and the 
other disciples with them were gathered together on the 
evening of the first Easter-day, and Jesus appeared in their 
midst. After he had assured them that it was he himself 
whom they saw, he breathed on them and said: " Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost; whosoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them." We must not confuse this occurrence 
with the descent of the Holy Spirit in full power at Pentecost; 
but it does teach us that forgiveness is brought to us, the 
atoning merits of the Saviour's death are applied to the 
individual members of Christ, through the sanctifying opera- 
tion of the Holy Spirit. The main point, however, that 
concerns us here is that our Lord conferred upon his Church, 
of which the apostles were by his appointment the leaders, 
authority to declare the remission of their sins to all who 
truly repent and believe. In every branch of the Church this 
authority is committed to those who are ordained to the priest- 
hood. Cp. page 522 of the Prayer Book. When, therefore, 
the absolution (cp. pages 4, 5 or 23 1 of the Prayer Book) is 
pronounced by God's ministers, we should receive it as a 
true declaration that God forgives our sins, provided, as 
is said in the absolution, we have true faith (John iii. 16, 
Acts x. 43) and true repentance (Luke xiii. 5 and our text) 
with a steadfast purpose to obey God. 

Thus God in his love has provided a way in which the 
burden of sins with which everyone has ladened himself 
may be removed. For he sent his only Son to redeem us, 
and he forgives us for our Saviour's sake. And this for- 
giveness is brought to each of us by the Holy Spirit, working 
normally through the Church and its appointed ministry. 
For God's goodness in healing our sins, without which we 
could not have peace of conscience or be saved from eternal 
death, we ought to be profoundly thankful. And the thought 
of God's forgiveness ought likewise to lead us to full forgive- 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST ^5 

ness of any wrongs we may suffer from others. — Ephes. 
iv. 32, Matt. vi. 12 to 16. 

Every Christian was cleansed in Baptism from all his sins; 
but he has also deep need of forgiveness for sins com- 
mitted afterwards. 

Our Lord has power to forgive sins, as he taught when he 
healed the paralytic. 

He imparted to his Church authority to declare through its 
appointed ministers God's pardon of sins. 

Thus the forgiveness of sins, secured to us through God's 
love by the atoning death of Christ, is brought to each 
Christian through the operation of the Holy Spirit in 
the Church. 

The next lesson and the one following require careful 
thought in order to bring out the full, definite meaning of the 
figurative language of Scripture, and yet to give the pupils 
truly spiritual ideas concerning the resurrection of the body 
and the future life. 



LESSON 42 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY 

Review. The forgiveness of sins, won for us by the atoning 
death of Christ, is brought to each Christian, who has true 
repentance and faith, through the operation of the Holy Spirit. 

Text, St. John xi. 25, 26. Bible lessons: 1 Cor. xv. 20 to 
23 — first part of Lesson in the Burial Service; 1 Thess. iv. 
13 to end (not in the Prayer Book). 

Because our Lord rose from the dead we believe that we 
too shall rise. He is the first-fruits of the great harvest which 



lS6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

shall be gathered at the end of the world. Just as surely 
as all men, descended from our first human ancestor, through 
whom sin came to the race, must die, so surely all shall be 
made alive in Christ, who won the victory over sin and death 
by his resurrection. This is the truth which St. Paul sets 
forth in our first Bible lesson. It follows that our risen life 
will be after the pattern of our Lord's. "We know that, 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall 
see him as he is." — i John iii. 2. Now his risen body was 
real, and was the same body in which he was crucified, having 
still the prints of the nails and the spear-wound. Yet it 
was a glorified body, no longer subject to the weaknesses and 
limitations of our earthly life. He could come and go, for 
example, even though doors were shut or distance intervened. 
So when we rise at the last great day our bodies will be 
restored, the same bodies in which we now live, yet glorified, 
freed from pain, weakness and imperfection, and made like 
the glorious resurrection body of our Lord," who shall change 
the body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned like 
unto the body of his glory, according to the working whereby 
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." — Phil. iii. 
21, in Epistle for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. 

It may be asked how it is possible that our bodies will be 
restored after they are dead, and are perhaps so completely 
destroyed that no trace of them is left. But this, St. Paul 
tells us (1 Cor. xv. 35 ff.), is a foolish question, showing 
ignorance of God's power and of the truth concerning the 
spiritual body. For when seed is sown it must die, that is, 
in sprouting be destroyed, before it can spring up to new life. 
And when sown it is not yet the plant it shall be, but mere 
seed; yet God gives "to every seed a body of its own." So 
God will give to each of us a body renewed and glorified, 
yet our own. Our bodies must be buried, as seed is sown, 
to corruption, in weakness, as natural bodies; but they shall 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 187 

be raised incorruptible, in power, as spiritual bodies. For 
besides natural bodies there are spiritual bodies, just as truly 
as there are many kinds of natural bodies among living 
creatures, some of greater glory and some of less. Therefore 
doubts concerning the possibility of our rising again can 
trouble us only if we imagine that all the laws and limitations 
of our present, material existence apply to our future life. 
Cp. Matt. xxii. 23 to 31. 

Our Lord himself, who rose and who now reigns in heaven, 
will, by his coming again in glory, raise up his who sleep in 
the grave. This is the teaching of our second Bible lesson, 
with which should be compared St. Matt. xxv. 31, 32, Rev. 
xx. 12, 13, St. John v. 25 to 30. As Jesus died and rose again, 
St. Paul assures us, so those who sleep in Jesus God will 
bring with him. The underlying thought here is that, as 
Christ and all true Christians form one vital organism, 
what happens to the Head must happen to the members, 
and that where he is there they must be. Accordingly, 
when Christ appears those who sleep in him will be brought 
with him by God's power, of which he is the agent; they 
will be united with him at his coming, and have their full 
share in the benefits of his appearing. Those who are still 
alive when he comes again will not precede those who have 
died before, but all alike will be joined with him. "For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, 
that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be 
with the Lord." Cp. 1 Cor. xv. 51 to end. Thus he who 
raised the widow's son, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus, 
who himself rose as the first-fruits of the dead, shall be, when 
he comes again, "the resurrection and the life" to all the 
faithful. 



188 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

The resurrection of the body means that we shall enjoy 
a complete life in the world to come, retaining all the parts 
of our being. Our personal identity will be fully preserved, 
so that we shall know our friends and be known by them, 
and shall be forever the kind of persons that we begin to be 
now. And since our bodies are to be as really a part of us 
in the future life as we find them to be now, the practical les- 
son is impressively enforced that the body is to be reverenced 
both in life and when dead, and is to be kept pure as the tem- 
ple of God, in which his Holy Spirit dwells. Cp. Rom. viii. 
ii ; i John iii. 3, in Epistle for the Sixth Sunday after the 
Epiphany. 

The resurrection of our Lord assures us that we too shall 

rise, and that our bodies shall be glorified after the 

likeness of his. 
Questions as to how this is possible can trouble us only if 

we forget God's power and the truth that "there is a 

spiritual body." 
Our Lord will himself come again to raise up all who have 

died, and to summon all who are living when he comes, 

that the faithful may forever be with him. • 
The resurrection of the body teaches us the completeness 

of our personal existence after death, and the reverence 

due to our bodies. 

The next lesson sets before us in figurative language the 
reality and glory of the life everlasting, which God offers 
to all his children, and which all who are redeemed and 
sanctified shall surely inherit. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST ^9 

LESSON 43 
THE LIFE EVERLASTING 

Review. Because Christ rose from the dead with the same 
body in which he died, though now a glorified body, we be- 
lieve that we too shall be raised by him with our bodies, 
which, though buried weak and corruptible, shall rise in 
glory. 

Text, 1 Cor. ii. 9. Bible lessons: St. John xiv. 1 to 4 — 
first part of Gospel for St. Philip and St. James's Day; 
Rev. vii. 9 to 13 — last part of Epistle for All Saints' Day. 

In our Lord's discourse with his disciples on the night 
before his crucifixion he forewarned them of the sorrow 
about to come, and then told them of the heavenly mansions 
prepared for them. He was about to depart from them, 
and that, too, through the suffering of the cross; but he 
promised he would prepare a place for his followers, and 
would return for them, that they might be with him. The 
saying about "the many mansions" likens heaven to a great 
temple of God or to a royal palace, in which there are many 
rooms; and the thought is that place will be found there for 
all who are faithful, a place in the presence of God, where 
his children shall be at home. There they shall have the 
vision of God and his Christ, and share in the glory and 
happiness which the Saviour has won for them. This in- 
heritance is for all those who, following their Master's ex- 
ample, have overcome temptation and endured even unto 
death. 

In St. John's visions of the future he saw the multitude 
of the redeemed in heaven, countless in number, of all races 
of men. He saw them stand before the throne of God and 



igo BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

before Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain for us, and 
who now shares the glory and dominion of the Father. 
They were clothed in white, the symbol of purity and of joy, 
and they had in their hands palm-branches, which men used 
to carry upon a festival, as the multitudes did who accom- 
panied our Lord at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. — 
John xii. 13; cp. 1 Mace. xiii. 51. They gave praise to God 
and the Lamb for their salvation, and the angels, the elders 
and the four living creatures before God's throne joined 
with them in the praise and worship of God. The verses 
in the seventh chapter of Revelation which follow our 
second Bible lesson tell us that these who are arrayed in 
white robes have come out of great tribulation and have 
washed and made white their robes in the blood of the 
Lamb. That is, they have overcome evil in spite of suffering, 
and have been cleansed through faith by the atoning blood 
of Christ (cp. 1 John i. 7). Therefore they are in the presence 
of God, and serve him forever, knowing perfectly his love, 
seeing the full vision of his glory, praising him with unclouded 
happiness and carrying out his will in noble tasks. 

Thus we have in the words of our Lord and the beloved 
apostle promises of everlasting life in the world to come, full 
of happiness and deepest satisfaction. We cannot hope to 
understand fully now what that life shall be, and we must 
not take these promises in a literal and material sense. Yet, 
though they are expressed in figurative language, the mean- 
ing is no less real and deep on that account. For it is not 
any lack in the reality, but only in our power of apprehending 
it, that makes our knowledge of the world to come incom- 
plete, and makes figurative language the best medium for 
conveying to us so much as we can grasp concerning the 
future life. For that life is better and happier than we can 
imagine, as is said so beautifully in our text. 

This eternal life begins now, since it depends upon our 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



191 



being faithful members of Christ, who believe in God and 
serve him truly. What we begin to be now determines what 
we shall be hereafter. There can be no magic change in the 
characters that are formed in this life; either men have 
Christ's life within them, and grow into his likeness; or, 
putting aside that life and the indwelling power of the Holy 
Spirit, they decay spiritually until they are ready for the 
second death. We ought, therefore, never to forget the 
awful possibility of losing heaven through failure to fit 
ourselves by God's help for that glorious existence. And 
the eternal things which are not seen should be so real to us 
that we " reckon the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re- 
vealed." — Rom. viii. 18. 

Our Lord has promised to prepare a heavenly home into 

which he will receive all who follow him faithfully. 
St. John saw in vision the multitude of the redeemed before 

the Lord rejoicing forever in his presence. 
The joy of the life everlasting, thus revealed to us, is higher 

than our thought can conceive. 
Eternal life begins now, since what we begin to be here 

determines what we shall be hereafter. 

REVIEW 

The next hour should be used for a review of lessons 34 
to 43 inclusive, the aim being to make clear the personality 
of the Holy Spirit, and his work in making the people of 
God holy. Our Lord promised that after his departure 
from earth he would send the Comforter as his Vicar, who 
should cause him and the Father to dwell with the faithful. 
The Holy Spirit accordingly came upon the disciples at 
Pentecost, and was made known to them by outward signs 



192 



BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 



and inward power as the divine Lord to whom men may- 
pray for strength and guidance. His presence was a fact 
of daily experience to the New Testament Christians, who 
knew him as a divine Person, a Friend present with them. 
Us, too, he aids now to see and do our duty, bringing forth 
in our hearts the fruits of righteousness, and manifesting 
himself continually as the Giver of Life. Two notable 
means by which he exercises his sanctifying power are the 
Bible and the Church. For he inspired the sacred writers 
to see and record God's revelation, culminating in Christ; 
and he thus has made the Scriptures a mighty aid, when 
faithfully used, in building up Christian character. The 
Church is the normal sphere of his action, being the Body 
of Christ in which the Holy Spirit dwells, conveying the life 
of the Head to the members. All the members of Christ, 
both the living and the departed, are accordingly united in 
him through his Spirit by the closest of ties, and form one 
communion and fellowship. Working normally through the 
Church, the Holy Spirit brings forgiveness of sins to every 
Christian who has true repentance and faith. And thus, 
as a result of his sanctifying operation, all faithful Chris- 
tians are prepared for the resurrection and the life everlasting. 

Our concluding lesson brings us back again to the funda- 
mental truths that God is one and that his essential nature 
is love. The three divine Persons, who are as such eternally 
distinct from one another, and who are made manifest to 
us in creation, redemption and sanctification, are not three 
Gods, but one God. This most important lesson should in 
no case be passed over or slighted; indeed, more than one 
hour may well be given to it, that the truth of God's essential 
unity may be thoroughly enforced. The teacher should 
review pages 24 to 29 and lessons 3, 4, 5 and 9. 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



J93 



LESSON 44 
THE HOLY TRINITY; THREE PERSONS, ONE GOD 

Text, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Bible lesson, St. Matt. iii. 16, 17 
(not in the Prayer Book, but printed in the Outline). 

Our study has shown us what God the Father has done for 
us in creating us and all the world, and what he does now in 
preserving and caring for all mankind. It has shown us 
that God the Son came to earth to redeem us, giving us a 
complete revelation of the Father who sent him, and a perfect 
example of obedience to the Father's righteous will, atoning 
for our sins by his death, and restoring life to us by his rising 
again; and that he now lives and reigns as our ascended King, 
who will come again to judge the world and to raise up all 
men, that the faithful may reign with him forever. It has 
shown us, thirdly, that the Holy Spirit came to sanctify all 
the people of God, descending upon Christ's disciples in full 
power, teaching them to remember and apply all that the 
Saviour had revealed, establishing the Church, and guiding 
the spread of Christ's kingdom among men; and that he now 
gives us grace and power to do our duty and to grow up into 
such characters as God can approve and accept. Thus we 
have learned that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 
are real Persons, distinct from one another, and that we 
have definite relations to them, since we depend upon them 
for our creation, redemption and sanctification. And we 
have seen that each Person is revealed to us through acts 
and operations that our minds can apprehend. We must 
now return to the underlying truth that these three Persons 
are one God. 

At the Baptism of our Lord the three Persons are revealed 



I94 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

together as individually distinct and yet as essentially one. 
The incarnate Son comes before us in the Gospel story in 
bodily, human form, receiving Baptism at the hands of St. 
John, the Father is revealed by the voice from heaven, and 
the Holy Spirit is made manifest by his descent upon the 
Saviour as a dove. This impressive revelation is made in a 
way that even children can grasp, and the scene upon the 
banks of Jordan should occupy the central place in our 
lesson. The teacher may note in studying it some points 
which probably will not come up in teaching. Jesus was 
baptized by St. John not because there was in him any sin 
which needed to be washed away, but because he wished to 
be treated in all respects as man, and to leave nothing undone 
which God had shown to be his will. Accordingly, as he 
submitted before to circumcision, so now he was baptized, 
recognizing St. John's work as a part of God's plan of re- 
demption. With regard to the voice from heaven, the ques- 
tion whether it was audible to the outward ear, or was an 
inner, prophetic voice in the heart of Jesus or of St. John, 
matters not for our present purpose; in either case God the 
Father was distinctly revealed. The like is true with regard 
to the revelation of the Holy Spirit, whether the sign of his 
coming was visible to the outward eye, or was seen by Jesus 
and the Baptist through inner, prophetic vision. Again, 
we may not be able to understand all that is involved in the 
coming of the Holy Spirit upon our divine Saviour, or why 
it should be needful; but we can see this, at least, that the 
Holy Spirit was given to him as man to equip him fully for his 
work, while as the Son of God he imparted the Holy Spirit 
to believers, baptizing them with the Holy Ghost. — Matt, 
iii. ii, Acts i. 5. 

Thus the Baptism of our Lord brings before us the two 
most fundamental points of New Testament doctrine; that 
God sent his Son to redeem all who would accept him, and 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 195 

that the risen and glorified Christ sends the Holy Spirit to 
make all who truly believe partakers of redemption. That 
the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world is set 
forth by his words approving the mission and work of Jesus 
as Messiah and Saviour; and that our Lord sends the Holy 
Spirit is made known by his receiving the Holy Spirit in order 
to impart him to all believers. Moreover, since the Holy 
Spirit is given to men by the Messiah, it follows that he 
stands in relation to the Son of God no less than to the Father; 
he is the Spirit of God, and is also the Spirit of Christ, as the 
apostles so frequently name him. Accordingly the unity 
of the three Persons is revealed at our Lord's Baptism by 
their harmonious working for man's salvation, in the great 
plan of which all share, the Father sending the Son, and the 
Son the Holy Spirit. Our Lord and his apostles constantly 
speak of the trinity and the unity of the Godhead in connec- 
tion with the truths of our preservation and salvation and of 
our dependence upon the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. 
From this point of view we can best apprehend the mys- 
tery of the Holy Trinity, so far as our spiritual vision can 
reach, and can best see the profound practical importance to 
us of faith in the triune God. And so we do well to observe 
how our Lord's Baptism reveals to us the three divine Persons 
into whose Name we have been baptized, and their unity. 

Behind these manifestations of the three divine Persons, 
however, lies the essential being of God, to which his revela* 
tion of himself in the great plan of salvation corresponds. 
And so, while our thoughts cannot penetrate fully to the 
inner relations of the Holy Trinity, we believe there are 
personal distinctions within the divine Essence, so that the 
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not merely temporary 
forms in which the one God has shown himself to men for 
their good, but that there are eternally, in the everlasting 
reality of heaven no less than in the history of man's redemp- 



I9 6 BIBLE LESSONS ON THE CREED 

tion, the three Persons in the one Godhead, whom the angels 
praise forever as "Holy, Holy, Holy." — Rev. iv. 8, in Epistle 
for Trinity Sunday. Cp. Hymn 383. The essential unity 
of the Godhead is no less clear than this distinction of the 
Persons. For the men whom our Lord taught were absolute- 
ly certain with regard to the fundamental and characteristic 
truth of the Old Testament religion, "Hear, O Israel: the 
Lord our God is one Lord"; and this truth is constantly 
assumed and enforced by our Saviour's teaching. We, 
like his first disciples, cannot possibly doubt that God is one. 
And so when we, like them, are confronted with the two great 
truths, which seem at first sight contradictory, the unity of 
God, and the actual revelation of the three divine Persons, we 
accept them both; and guided by the teaching of our Lord 
and his apostles, and by the interpretation of the facts of 
revelation given in all ages by the Church under the guidance 
of the Holy Spirit, we confess our belief that the three Persons 
are not three Gods but one God. For we believe that the 
Father is the one Source from whom the Son is begotten, 
and that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father 
and the Son. 

The essential nature of God is necessarily beyond our 
comprehension, but we may know it truly, though partially, 
through his revelation of himself, and may understand that 
revelation better by viewing it from the standpoint of the 
Creed. Analogies, too, may be helpful as illustrations. 
We could, for example, imagine all the functions of govern- 
ment, legislative, judicial and executive, to be vested in three 
wise and just men, who yet should form one harmonious and 
powerful government. This may give a faint idea of the 
supreme unity of God. Or we may, somewhat as in lesson 3 , 
illustrate this truth by the unity of the sun, the one source 
from whence proceeds light and heat; or by the unity of a 
man's personality in its inner being, upon which depend his 



GOD THE HOLY GHOST 



197 



reason and his love. The very imperfection, too, of all 
such analogies, shows us that we may have a true though 
partial knowledge of God's nature; since we are sure of the 
real unity of the sun's energy or of a man's personality, though 
we can understand them only so far as we know what they do. 
Finally, we should emphasize once more the profound 
practical value in the doctrine of the Trinity as the teaching 
which alone completely sets forth the love of God. The 
doctrine is revealed to us through the redeeming love of 
God in sending his Son to us and in the coming of the Holy 
Spirit. Belief in the corresponding heavenly reality, that 
the three Persons, though distinct, are essentially one in an 
eternal Unity, makes us see that the inmost nature of God 
is love. 

The three Persons of the Holy Trinity are plainly revealed 

to us in the story of redemption. 
They were manifested together at the Baptism of our Lord 

as distinct Persons, yet harmoniously One. 
Our Lord's Baptism sets before us the two basal truths that 

the Father sent the Son to redeem us, and the Son sends 

the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. 
Corresponding to this revelation in the history of redemption 

is the heavenly reality of the Holy Trinity, three Persons, 

one only God. 
This divine reality, partially but truly known through God's 

revelation of himself, discloses to us the truth that God 

is love. 



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